SWAG – Students with a Goal
It is finally summer. The weather has broken and it is warm and beautiful every day. It is staying light out later each day and we are all rushing home from work to spend time with our kids outside. Now that the kids are out of school, our weekends will be filled with trips to amusement parks and barbecues with friends and families. It is a great time of the year. For kids, summer is an interesting time. No school each day leaves a ton of time for kids with minimal or no real supervision. This could be a scary time for parents. We all want our children to be safe and spending time with positive influences whenever possible. These are the ideals that fuel a program such as SWAG.
SWAG is simply “Students With A Goal”. A goal to learn. A goal to spend at least a part of their week with positive, stable influencers from the community. Also a time to have fun with friends in a stimulating environment. Most importantly this is a way for them to be accountable. Each year, students receive a summer reading list. Even though when I was a child I loved to read, I neverwould have completed my reading list without a push. This is that push. Students must present their summer reading list and choose one book at a time they would like to read. They will then meet once a week for just a few hours to read together as a group. There will be teams and some competition to encourage the kids to work together and get points. Points will be awarded for winning games, good behavior and number of books read. Points can also be taken away for bad behavior. Rewards will be small during the course of the program, like snacks etc., but it will build a sense of accountability and teamwork with the children.
Students that successfully meet all the criteria of the program will be given an Amazon Kindle at the end. The Kindle will be preloaded with hundreds of books. This is an amazing opportunity. I can’t think of a better way to have your children spend a part of their summer. Reading builds leaders. Every great leader I know reads, and they read a lot. It is such a great way to learn. We encourage you to check out this program for your children this summer and participate in SWAG. You won’t be disappointed and neither will they. They will get to keep in touch with friends during the summer and make some great new ones. They will get their reading lists completed with a little push and they will learn a great deal about accountability and teamwork. For just a few hours a week, this is a great experience. Once they get their new Kindle, they may really embrace reading and we can help build our next generation of leaders. Come join us and get your SWAG on.
For more information about the SWAG program or to sign your child up, please click here: http://www.communityinvestmentstrategies.com/swag-summer-reading-program/