by Lisa Schauer
After a 10-year absence, Energy Express, a statewide summer program for K-5 students created by WVU Extension Service in 1994, is back in Morgan County.
This time, it’s been redesigned as a pilot site with Morgan County Schools, Morgan County Extension Office, and AmeriCorps, a federal agency that provides stipended volunteer work opportunities.
About 40 Morgan County students are enrolled in the six-week summer program, which is held at Warm Springs Intermediate School.
Teachers in five classrooms provide interventional instruction in the mornings. Five mentors, local college students from AmeriCorps, engage with students in games, crafts and activities in the afternoons. Free bus transportation, breakfast and lunch are provided.
“The goal is to keep them from having a summer slide,” said site coordinator Chelsea Fox.
Younger students can lose about 20 percent of their school-year gains in reading and 27 percent of their school-year gains in math during summer break, according to a 2020 white paper published by NWEA, an educational services organization.
Those losses can be magnified for students who are already struggling. Educational leaders see summer programs as a way for students to catch up, or at least level out their academic performance.
Standing in the way of those goals is typically low attendance in summer programs, heightening the need to provide a fun, engaging experience.
“Energy Express is meant to be a fun summer reading program. Each week there’s a different theme to keep them engaged in reading,” said Fox.
Some of the students are referred to the program by their school, based on their reading scores, which are monitored.
“If you’re going to have a federal program, you have to have data,” said WVU Extension Agent Cindy Smalley, who oversees the pilot site.
Last year, Smalley approached the Morgan County Board of Education to see about bringing back Energy Express.
County partnerships had filled the gap for summer programs with Camp MoCo and other school-based offerings over the summer break.
Smalley said the board wanted to make the Energy Express program more intensive, so they made it a full day, with teachers providing instructional interventions.
After federal budget cuts last spring, Energy Express offers the only remaining AmeriCorps positions in the state, according to Smalley.
“We in West Virginia did a great job of proving our value,” Smalley said.
