Providing support for Highline School District summer camps

by Jennifer Diep and Olivia Smith

As the Dream Project continues to grow and to support more aspects of the middle and high school student experience, we are invited to work more deeply with our school partners both during and beyond the school year. This year, Highline School District expanded its summer programming for middle school students, to help them prepare for middle and high school and to help deepen their thinking about their postsecondary plans and dreams. Two college and career readiness assistants (CCRAs) who worked at these Highline summer school camps share their experiences.

Jennifer Diep
Dream Project CCRA & High School Lead Development Co-Lead

Over the summer, I facilitated various summer camp lessons at Chinook Middle School to help students think about college and their futures. Lessons ranged from personality tests to myths about college and learning how to reach their own dreams for the future. Every day was filled with new questions about college and the future, while also creating room for discussion on different topics. I also supported summer camp at Sylvester middle school, where the focus was more on the transition from elementary school to middle school. Students were able to experience middle school classes to ease their adjustment to having multiple periods of class per day and we talked about leadership skills that could help them throughout middle school and beyond.

Olivia Smith
Dream Project CCRA & Public Relations Manager

I also supported summer camps at both Chinook and Sylvester Middle Schools. I facilitated lessons about college, goal setting, transitioning to high school, and other lessons related to students achieving their dreams. The middle schoolers asked questions about what college and high school were like (especially rumors and myths that they had heard about both), the kinds of tests they’d have to take, whether or not they’d need to have good grades, careers and majors, and more. We even told them about the Washington State College Bound Scholarship and how they could qualify for it and earn it once they graduated from high school. Overall, the middle schoolers were enthusiastic and very interested in all the information we told them.