Category Archives: Community Learning Center

Comcast Cares at Granite Park Jr. High!

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Andrea Coxby Andrea Cox
Community Collaborations Director

On Saturday, April 27, Granite Park Jr. High participated in the 12th annual Comcast Cares Day, a national movement that brings together thousands of volunteers from around the country to focus efforts on local schools in the spirit of volunteerism and community building.

At Granite Park Jr. High, over 450 volunteers gathered to provide resources and helping hands for an intense makeover of the school that included cleaning windows, painting inside and out, beautifying the grounds, creating 28 community garden plots, raking, collecting garbage, and much more! Volunteers were joined by Comcast employees, community representatives (such as South Salt Lake Mayor Cherie Wood), school administration and faculty, residents, students, and families all working together to create a safe and welcoming environment at Granite Park Jr. High.

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The day began with registration where each volunteer received a Comcast Cares t-shirt and a warm welcome by Granite Park Jr. High administration and Comcast employees. Afterwards, volunteers were divided into groups and assigned particular tasks throughout the school. One of the biggest tasks assigned to volunteers was building 28 plots for a community garden. These community gardens allow for families of students to feel that Granite Park Jr. High is a community school where all can gather to build lasting relationships and create community cohesiveness. Many volunteers, students, and South Salt Lake families worked side-by-side throughout the morning to accomplish this large task.

Aaron Wilson, an administrator at Granite Park Jr. High said, “Seeing the community of South Salt Lake pour out their support on behalf of our school was humbling and awe-inspiring. As students of Granite Park worked alongside their peers, families, teachers, and citizens of South Salt Lake, they realized how many people are invested in seeing success in their lives and at the school.”

Renee Stirling DeHaan, Assistant Principal and Granite Park Jr. High, said, “I want to thank Aaron Wilson for all his hard work for organizing Comcast Cares Day. The conversations and people were the highlights of my experience…laughing, joking, getting to know families and individuals on a personal level, is a valued treasure to me and my family. I love the community in South Salt Lake!”

One volunteer, Brian Fleming, who worked on re-painting the outside basketball courts, said of his experience, “This was such a great event! It was a great privilege to work side-by-side with the students in a great cause!”

Carmela Castaneda, the Community Schools Coordinator at Granite Park Jr. High, said, “It was amazing seeing everyone rally around the school for this event. Granite Park Jr. High is truly a natural gathering place for all families of South Salt Lake!”

Students also chimed in, “My experience volunteering today was great! Everyone was asking if they could help!”

Undertaking such a large-scale project is both time-consuming and complex. Granite Park Jr. High did a fantastic job of organizing hundreds of volunteers to create an experience that was meaningful for all who participated.

In addition to spear-heading these volunteer efforts, Comcast also makes a donation in behalf of Granite Park Jr. High to the Granite Education Foundation, a program that helps facilitate the fostering of programs, alliances, and resources to impact student learning and assist educators in the public school system. For more information, please visit: http://www.graniteeducationfoundation.org/page/9

Volunteers, school faculty and staff, residents, and students all agreed that this was a memorial event for everyone who participated. It was, as the staff at the front office said, “A great day at Granite Park Jr. High!”

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Granger Elementary at JA City!

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by Lynette Weight
5th Grade Teacher, Granger Elementary
Guest Blogger

A few weeks ago, our ENTIRE fifth grade had the unique opportunity to participate in JA City at the Discovery Gateway Center. For weeks we prepared for our adventure there: discussing money and finance, daily practice of writing checks and filling out deposit slips, going over our job responsibilities, etc. We tried our best to be ready for the big day.

We rode the buses to the center, listening to the eager chatter of the children. When we arrived, we climbed into the elevator and headed upstairs. You couldn’t hear a sound as the students came into this miniature town; probably the quietest I’ve seen some of these students! They were walking down the “street,” feasting on the visual smorgasbord around them.

Our first stop was the town square at the center of the city for our FIRST town meeting. During the meeting, our mayor was sworn in and given a few directions before they headed off to their previously assigned businesses. There, they met their volunteer helper, and got settled before their doors opened for the business day.

JA CityThanks to the great staff there and volunteers that manned each business, teachers were able to mingle around and observe our students in action!! It was inspiring to see how engaged the children were in their assigned responsibilities. Each child was given an assignment weeks before, corresponding to each business. Even students that sometimes struggle with attention abilities were on task. There was a low hum about the city as they buzzed around like little worker bees: some taking loan applications to the bank, others selling goods, and a few reporters wandering around the city looking for a good story.

We are grateful for our assistant principal coordinating everything and for the staff of JA City for their support in helping us be prepared for our experience. We are also grateful to United Way of Salt Lake: if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to have the experience at all. Thank you for providing our students and faculty with such a positive experience we will never forget! We are excited to take a new group this coming year!

Oquirrh Hills Elementary to Combat Summer Learning Loss

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DSC_0184LRGby Stephanie Linton
Oquirrh Hills Community School Coordinator

At Oquirrh Hills Elementary, summer is about to get a whole lot better! School faculty, Boys & Girls Clubs of South Valley staff, and United Way of Salt Lake employees have been working to provide more opportunities for our students during summer.

In the past, Title I funding had allowed school faculty to host a six-week summer program to prepare students for the following school year. Due to the loss of Title I funding during the 2011-2012 school year, that summer program was cancelled. Academically, we saw a drop in students’ achievement by 14%, as compared to an 18% increase in summers where an academic program operated.

In efforts to combat the effects of summer learning loss, a grant through United Way of Salt Lake, along with additional resources from Oquirrh Hills Elementary and the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Valley, our school will provide an 11-week summer program to its students. Trudy Adams, Literacy Coach and Ashley Berry, Program Director for the BGCSV program at Oquirrh Hills, have been coordinating efforts to fully align curriculum, programming, and staff to specifically meet the needs of our students. Programming in science, technology, engineering, arts, math, and literacy (as well as a kindergarten readiness programs for pre-kindergarten students) will be offered during these 11 weeks, free of charge.

Students will also have the opportunity to experience expanded learning through field trips to places such as the Clark Planetarium, Sandy Aquarium, Heritage Park, Hogle Zoo, Tracy Aviary, Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum, and Wheeler Farm.  United Way of Salt Lake’s volunteer and community engagement director, Heather MacDonald, has been working on engaging volunteers to act as chaperones during these exciting experiences, giving our students another great opportunity to meet successful individuals from our community (if you are interested in volunteering, please contact Heather at heather@uw.org).

We have had an overwhelming response from parents, students, and faculty looking to participate in our summer program.  A great deal of gratitude is in order for all those involved in making this program a reality, and for making our summer just a little brighter. This process has been a truly inspiring experience and a perfect example of Collective Impact at its finest!

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Preschool, Closing the Achievement Gap, and a Waiting List at Granger Elementary

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scott-mcleodby Scott McLeod
Granger Community School Coordinator

Not long ago, on a snowy morning in late March, Granger elementary hosted its high-quality preschool registration day.  As the Community School Coordinator at Granger, and a committed early education advocate, I offered my assistance in making photos copies, translating for Spanish speaking parents, and generally doing what I could to help out.  I also distributed a parent survey to get a clear picture of the early education opportunities the incoming preschoolers had prior to signing up so we can make the most informed decisions going forward (if you have read my blog posts previously, you know how committed I am to collecting data and ensuring our interventions are data driven, so this probably comes as no surprise!).

The event was supposed to last for one hour, with families coming in, taking a number, and being enrolled on a first come, first serve basis.  This did happen, and in fact went pretty seamlessly. But I can assure you, after one hour–we had yet to enroll half of the families that came that day.

Late March was not long after the close of the legislative session here in Utah, and as I worked with all of the parents to enroll their children, I couldn’t help but think of the high-quality preschool expansion bill put forth by Senator Osmond, SB71 (crafted in part by United Way and Voices for Utah Children), and the opposition it received by many legislators and citizens.  You see, when it comes to closing the achievement gap between low income kids and their middle and upper income peers, we know what works: high-quality preschool.  When it comes to helping low income kids start school ready and keep up with their middle and upper income peers throughout school and later in life, we know what works: high-quality preschool.

It struck me that day that someone else knows the importance of high-quality preschool for low income kids: their parents.  For two and a half hours, I saw parents come in, wet from a long walk in the snow, with kids bundled in jackets or tucked under blankets in strollers, many running quickly back to their house to get the right proof of address bill or immunization form, all to help their kids get into high-quality preschool and do better in school and life.  But the problem was, there wasn’t enough room.  The last third of the children were put on a waiting list.  That day, twice as many families showed up compared to what was expected and there simply wasn’t enough space available. While Granger is a big school, it has limited preschool capacity, exactly what the preschool bill was trying to fix.

To be honest, I am still not sure why some people object to the idea of increasing high-quality preschool capacity in schools.  Preschool is something a parent enrolls in if they are interested, just like swimming lessons or the boy scouts–something they do only if they think it is the right choice for their child.  High-quality preschool also helps build a system that supports us all and that changes the odds for those that need it most.  So, while we didn’t succeed this year, we’ll do our best to expand high-quality preschool next year, making the case on behalf of these kids and their parents.  In the meantime, thanks to everyone who worked tirelessly on the bill and legislative push.  I am confident the effort will not go unrewarded.

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Saturday School Helps Kids in Math and Reading!

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by Natalie Fall
UWSL Intern

In the uphill climb toward closing the achievement gap for at-risk students, meaningful progress is accomplished through thoughtful and deliberate steps. In the case of Granite Park Jr. High, a UWSL Community School in South Salt Lake, UWSL & partners identified a need and implemented a program to address it – a perfect example of such a step.

DSC_0038This program, Saturday School, is a weekly opportunity for students to get additional time with teachers to improve their skills in Math, Science, and Language. Saturday School was an idea requested by Granite Park Jr. High Principal, Dr. Taran Chun, to target under-performing students and prepare them for CRT testing in these subjects. Granite Park, like the city of South Salt Lake, is home to many refugee and immigrant students. These ELL (English Language Learner) students face a unique set of challenges as they navigate unfamiliar curriculum.

Saturday School called upon school administrators, faculty, volunteers, and organizations from both South Salt Lake and Refugee Youth Promise Partnerships to develop a comprehensive program model to address under-performance. The program is specifically designed to provide additional academic support to improve CRT testing scores by reviewing content and building test-taking skills. To target ELL students, flyers to promote Saturday School were translated to seven different languages including Arabic, Burmese, Karen, Napoli, Farsi, Somali, and Swahili. Buses run to and from the school on Saturdays for the 60-90 students who attend.

I had the opportunity to visit Saturday School last weekend, where I observed teachers and students hard at work on CRT practice tests.  I was particularly impressed by the teachers’ efforts to make concepts applicable to the students’ lives.  They were able to transcend culture barriers by drawing on students’ personal experiences and relating them to the test material.  The atmosphere was welcoming.  In fact, I might even describe it as fun – not necessarily what I expected on an early Saturday morning at a Junior High School.

DSC_0087With CRT testing just around the corner, Saturday School has played an imperative role in ensuring Granite Park’s students reach academic benchmarks, moving each student forward in the cradle to career pipeline.  Granite Park Jr. High demonstrates a commitment to changing the odds through programs like this one! Way to LIVE UNITED!