SummerFest – Day 1

Day 1 down, 2 more to go! This year’s SummerFest festivities began Friday, June 18. Sixty-two students joined us from Franklin Elementary School, Garfield Elementary School, and Ruby Bridges Elementary School. Early Friday morning, students gathered together in teams to eat a scrumptious breakfast and become acquainted with fellow team members. After a short introduction by Principal Tony, teams shuffled excitedly into their first classes of the day…Baking Bonanza or Making Melodies , anyone??? Whether dissecting a cow eyeball, constructing a personalized bridge composed of towers and cables, or watching flames of fire come to life from magic “juice”, the students had a fabulous time taking in all the head knowledge and applying it with their hands.

After three rounds of back-to-back classes, it was time to gather altogether for large group time, complete with some heart-pounding singing and dancing time, a group game, and a message by Teacher Josh.  Teacher Josh had more than a few words of encouragement to illustrate the 2010 SummerFest theme of “Stick To It!”, and we all learned about the value of persevering through life hard things such as hard schoolwork, family circumstances, and generally-puzzling situations. Students were challenged to do impossible acts, like write the Pledge of Allegiance in 10 seconds or solve an incredibly long multiplication problem. Though it would be easy to give up, with the cheers of fellow students to “Stick with it!,” the volunteers worked hard to complete their challenges. One ImpACT volunteer also shared how she herself went through the ImpACT program as a second grader from Garfield Elementary School and was able to stick through the struggles in her life to become a successful student at UC Berkeley. The first day went by so fast! We are all looking forward to Day 2 and 3 at ImpACT SummerFest!