ELLSWORTH - Another summer is in the books at Ellsworth Elementary Middle School! This past July, the Falcon Summer Academy returned and brought in about twice as many faces this year as they did last summer!
Kids entering grades 1-8 stayed busy all July at EEMS. The Falcon Summer Academy offered their traditional scholastic programs like literary and math camps while also hosting a ton of fun activities and continuing the ‘Summer STEM’ program from last year. There was no shortage of hands-on learning opportunities- from exciting guest speakers to gardening activities, students even got to spend some time with the Acadia Park Rangers, the Coast Guard, the Audubon Society, and they took a trip to the planetarium in Orono to learn about space exploration!
“I love seeing the kids come in every day excited and happy, and seeing them engage in activities that they may not have been able to access during the school year,” says Falcon Summer Academy Director Leigh Elliott. “It’s not a traditional summer school, but there is enough academics for students to want to engage and learn. But they just seem so happy and like they want to be here- and I love that.”
Ms. Elliott is also the ESEA coordinator for the district and a former fifth grade teacher at EEMS. She took over the summer program in 2024 inspired to take it to another level.
“I come from a very rural area in Vermont where we didn’t necessarily have a lot of opportunities for kids for summer programming,” she says. “We have so many kids here who don’t necessarily have the opportunity to access camps, or the YMCA, or even have a safe environment. I ended up teaching one year for the summer program and saw everything that it could be. I joked to Mrs. Clifford that I wanted to take it over and expand it, and now this is where we’re at.”
This summer, Ms. Elliott joined forces with Lisa Backman and the ESY program, which had their own summer learning program that was more individualized. After combining, they created inclusive classrooms with special education and general education students. Each room this summer was equipped with a special education teacher, a general education teacher, and an education technician- and the roster grew from around 70 students to nearly 150!
“I think we had a really great turnout. We had approximately 140 kids on the roster every day” Ms. Elliott says. “It’s crazy. I think it speaks to the needs in the community. I think it speaks to how the community values the school and education, and I think it speaks to how well our kids connect with the teachers and that they want to be here.”
As they did last year, the summer ended with students inviting their families into the gym and cafeteria to show off all of their accomplishments and hard work during the “Celebration of Learning!”
“It’s really important to engage our families and show what our kids are doing. It’s a good way of building community and also having that tie to the school, like they’re not being left out.”
Next year, Ms. Elliott and Ms. Backman plan to continue to grow the Falcon Summer Academy while also looking into expanding the STEM program, as well. Stay tuned for more information- next summer will be here before we know it!
