By Scott D. Johnston
For The GH News Group
The City of Ocean Shores and North Beach School District have announced summer programs that will offer something for all of the district’s nearly 700 students from grades 2-12. All are offered at no cost to the students, and all that are based in the district will include bus transportation to the schools, and student team-prepared breakfasts and lunches.
Summer Fun at Ocean Shores Elementary School, a joint project of the city and the school district, is open to students in grades 2-6 and will run 9 a.m. yo 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, July 9-25.
Students will explore art, STEM, reading and writing and more, and take trips to the Coastal Interpretive Center, Damon Point, the Weatherwax Preserve, the Quinault Rain Forest, a Tacoma Rainiers baseball game, Opal Art Glass in Cosmopolis, the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge in Hoquiam and Tillicum Village on Blake Island in Puget Sound.
The deadline to register for Summer Fun at OSE is June 18. Information, schedules and registration forms are available online at www.northbeachschools.org/domain/1205.
This is the second year for the Summer Fun program, that its creator. Ocean Shores City Council member Bob Peterson, describes as a “labor of love” that he spent over two years developing and persuading the city council to partially fund.
Peterson believes the success of last year’s program led the local school district to “approach us … to discuss a way to incorporate summer school activities and the enrichment activities of Summer Fun. The result is there will be a summer school program” at all three schools. He noted that “all three sites have developed their own unique schedules and activities,” although some field trips will be combined.
Pacific Beach Elementary School’s Summer Camp takes place on the same dates as OSE, July 9-25. Their program does not involve the City of Ocean Shores, but the content is similar. Planned excursions include Pt. Grenville on the Quinault Reservation, the Museum of The North Beach in Moclips, the Lake Quinault Sitka Spruce (the world’s largest according to an American Forestry Association scoring system), the Ghost Forest on the Copalis River, the Spoon Creek Falls Trailhead, a beach trail bike ride and the Tillicum Village trip.
Information, schedules and registration forms are available online at www.northbeachschools.org/domain/1204.
North Beach Jr. and Sr. High School students will be able to participate in Hyak Quest, a nine-day program that focuses on English and mathematics competencies in the morning and offers fun and informative excursions each afternoon. More information is at www.northbeachschools.org/domain/1203.
Also, high school students will be able to access summer professional technical options at the Twin Harbors Skill Center in Aberdeen. Students can explore automotive technology, broadcasting, cosmetology, construction basics, culinary arts, cultivating roots, electrical engineering, health care careers and photography/graphic arts. The school district will provide transportation to ensure all students have access. Those programs run June 17 through July 3, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. More information is at www.asd5.org/domain/548.
Information and registration forms were made available at all three schools beginning this week. In the press release that announced the NBSD summer school programs, Superintendent Andrew Kelly wrote, “The district will utilize Title 1 funds to support all students performing at or above grade level to offer the summer school opportunities outlined above.”
He continued, “We are blessed to have an amazing collaboration with The City of Ocean Shores for OSES’s summer program,” adding, “the ‘Summer Fun’ program brings together Ocean Shores community volunteers, partners, and civic leaders in unified support of our Ocean Shores scholars.”
