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Student Opportunities Abound During Summer Enrichment Program
WEST ORANGE, NJ - 440 students are enjoying this year’s Summer Enrichment Program, held annually at West Orange High School. The program, which opened July 2, remains in full swing until July 27.
The enrichment program first began over twenty years ago as a way to provide music, art, and educational opportunities for students just completing second through eighth grades. PTAs have raised money to provide scholarships and teachers have long enjoyed meeting students from across the school district. The program also helps to bridge the summer gap and help students hone their musical skills in orchestra and band.
The wide variety of programs are interesting and split into Prep for the lower grades and regular for the upper grades. High school students volunteer their time to assist teachers and students.
Saxophone, clarinet, oboe, Symphonic, percussion, horn, violin, cello, trombone, violin, and viola represent specialty classes. There is even a Piano Lab class for burgeoning keyboardists and songwriters.
Dance, drama, and musical theater offer other performance art options. The popular art classes include painting, crafts, ceramics, art design, and calligraphy.
Technology, Math Quest, and computers provided academic enrichment and Chinese was back, offering a good introduction to Mandarin with crafts, cooking, culture, and characters. ESL students continued working on their language skills.
Physical fitness, Gym Jamboree, and Baseball/Softball rounded out the courses available.
Scott Tomlin (St. Cloud music teacher), Denise Makri-Werzen (WOHS Nurse) and Maxwell Jean-Baptiste run the program from the West Orange High School Nurse’s Office. The school was a flurry of activity as youngsters changed classes like long-time high school students.
“It takes a lot of work to get the program up and running, but we’ve got it figured out,” said Tomlin.
“I’ve been part of the Enrichment Program since its beginning, and we all love doing it. All the teachers want to come back every year.”
As smiling faces filled all the classrooms, arts rooms, and dance studio, it was apparent the students were enjoying themselves as well.
Registration for the Enrichment Program generally begins in February and continues through the end of the school year.
Read more about the Summer Enrichment Program here.
See all the photos from the Summer Enrichment Program here and here.
Maxwell Jean-Baptiste, Denise Makri-Werzen, and Scott Tomlin.
Math Quest with teacher Joy Burnett.
Preparatory Band.
Drama.
Ceramics.
Jake Klausner is one of the many high school students helping with the program.
Dance.
July 17, 2018