WILMINGTON, N.C. — Every morning at Freedom School starts the same. In the morning Harambe sessions, named after the Swahili term for “all pull together,” kids dance, chant, say positive affirmations and even sing.
What You Need To Know
The Communities In Schools Freedom School is held Monday through Friday from June 22 to July 31
It empowers kids to excel and believe in their ability to make a difference in themselves, their families and community through education
It’s a summer literacy and cultural enrichment program that offers a diverse and inspiring reading curriculum
The Communities In Schools Freedom School is a summer school but not just any summer school. It motivates kids to read while focusing on cultural enrichment and feeling good about learning. This is just its second year with the program and is already seeing results.
“Well, there were changes as far as reading. We did have some students jump up three reading levels over the course of the six-week summer,” said Keisha Robinson, the CIS Freedom School Site Coordinator and program director. “We do a pre-test and post-test, and we were able to show that they had grown three reading levels.”
That success comes from a positive learning environment where students are able to learn and read about issues that impact them most.
“We’ve read books that have addressed police brutality, and the Tulsa race massacre and what not,” said Jeralyn Love, a student leader intern with the Freedom School. “Just having the students discuss it and talk about their own experiences and what it’s like being Black in America in today’s contemporary American culture.”
They’re tough conversations but beneficial ones as well.
“We’re creating spaces for conversations that otherwise wouldn’t be made,” Love said. “We’re catering to the fact that a lot of spaces and schools aren’t forcing so we want to have students be able to talk about it and know that it’s OK to have feelings about it, and express those feelings."
It’s those discussions and a diverse reading curriculum that’s filled with inspirational stories that keep the students coming back for more. One student, Zoe Kinlaw, even said that she doesn’t want to stop reading.
“So we do, I think it’s called daytime, and my teacher Miss G, she turns off the lights, and you can lay down on the mat or at your desk, and you just read,” Kinlaw said. “And it’s just so peaceful and quiet, it just makes you want to read all the time.”
You can learn more about the Freedom School by checking out its website here.