Historical September 1996 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
This month’s spotlight is on The Hamilton Holistic Summer Academy, Hamilton’s first summer enrichment program.
The objective of the program was to involve students in accelerated, literacy-based learning by combining traditional Language Arts and math skills and non-traditional holistic activities.
The theme for the summer academy, “SEA,” was an acronym for the Sports, Entrepreneurial, and Aesthetic components of the summer curriculum.
Another curricular component was Cornmunity Involvement. Learning about sea life was the focus of many lessons and activities in the summer enrichment program. Daily writing activities, including articles, reports, letters, and journal writing were used to enhance this strong emphasis on science.
The inaugural summer for The Hamilton Holistic Summer Academy was an overwhelming success!
The Sports Component of the summer program included the study of a different sport each week.
The students learned about the rules and origin of each sport and had the opportunity to attend a tennis program led by USTA clinician Cameron Thomas, the son of Hamilton’s Assistant Principal and Summer Academy Administrator Joyce Hill. Mr.Thomas, a former St. Louis University tennis coach, led the students in ball control drills and relays and taught the students the basic rules of tennis and score keeping.
This was a great opportunity for Hamilton students, several of which remarked that they had never even seen a tennis racquet before!
The Entrepreneurial Component of the program involved the continuation of the Wee Deliver Postal Service that is used for communication within the school during the regular school year.
Each summer school classroom had an address and the students acted as the postal workers, collecting, sorting and delivering the mail.
The students’ reports and articles, as well as original cartoons were published twice during the summer in the “S.E.A. News,” which was distributed to all of the summer school students.
The Aesthetic Component integrated creative arts such as dancing, speaking, writing and movement into daily learning activities.
The students visited each classroom and displayed the knowledge they had gained throughout the summer by reciting original poetry.
On another day they had a gathering in the gym, and each child reported one fact he had learned about a sea creature. At the end of the summer, there was a performance called “The Mutiny Under the Sea.” The students portrayed different sea creatures including porpoises, turtles, starfish, seahorses, and whales.
They created and wore ensembles to represent sea life.
The theme of the performance was the students’ search for knowledge and sharing of their discoveries.
The community involvement portion of the summer curriculum consisted of many exciting field trips and performances.
The summer students visited the Bowling Hall of Fame, Powder Valley Nature Center, Mid-America Aquacenter, the St. Louis Science Center, Walnut Park Library and the St. Louis Zoo Wildlife Walk.
They also participated in scavenger hunts at Union Station, Soulard Market, and on MetroLink. Students were divided into small groups and worked as a team to answer questions and find facts at each location.
On July 2, the students in the summer program had the opportunity to hear a performance from the Emmy Award Winning Storyteller Bobby Norfolk.
Another first for Hamilton this summer was the addition of the Summer Camp, which started each day after lunch and was held all day on Friday.
This was directed by Avis May, Hamilton’s Community Education Center coordinator. Students attending the summer camp had the opportunity to swim every Friday morning.
In addition, they participated in the St. Louis City Recreation DepartTrack Meet, atthe Time program Missouri cal Society, a Double Team ment tended Trackers at the Historiand had Dutch led by former Hamilton School Beat Officer Rhonda Woods.
They were also involved in programs led by Girls, Inc. and “Friends With a Better Plan.” On the last day of Summer Camp, they went to Raging Rivers Water Park in Grafton, Illinois.
It was a great summer at Hamilton, and we are looking forward to embarking on another successful, exciting school year!
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September 1996.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1996_09.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
