While summer school in Great Bend focuses on essentials skills such as reading and math, students are also learning and practicing the concepts of community service and volunteerism. 

At Lincoln Elementary School, Kansas Reading Roadmap Coordinator Trish Bailey created an opportunity for the 58 participating students to support Camp Hope. Students painted 78 yard signs with an encouraging message and sold them to members of the community. With support from community partners like Sutherlands who donated the lumber and Sherwin Williams who donated the paint, the students surpassed their original $500 goal, raising $830 for Camp Hope. 

Six students visited Camp Hope on Friday, June 21, to present the gift to a crowd of cheering and grateful campers. 

“Our students were overwhelmed by the reaction of the campers,” said Bailey. “Meeting the kids at Camp Hope really brought the project full circle, allowing our students to see the impact of their time, talents, and effort.” 

Kansas Reading Roadmap (KRR) is a structured summer program operating in all five elementary schools in Great Bend USD 428 in June. 

KRR operates under the belief that structured summer programming aligned with school data is essential for closing the early literacy gap.

 While still maintaining a strong literacy focus, students in the KRR summer program also gained skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The four-week summer camp environment gave students the opportunity to learn and gain new friends with team building, community service, fun days, and field trips.

Camp Hope is open to children and teens between the ages of 5 and 17 years who have, or have had, cancer. It is operated by KyMel Inc., a non-profit that’s goal is to improve the health of children and adolescents with cancer. Camp Hope takes place each June at Camp Aldrich near Claflin and is accredited by the American Camp  Association.