Last year, West Seattle High School worked to better prepare incoming ninth graders for the academic expectations of high school and will continue to do so for this year’s incoming freshmen with the Summer Bridge Program.

The program is funded by a grant from the Family Education Levy and is intended to help schools prepare incoming freshmen for high school. West Seattle, Chief Sealth and Franklin High Schools are part of this citywide levy grant.

The levy currently funds West Seattle High's D.E.N. and other freshmen programs, as well as some new faculty positions at like ninth-grade academic intervention specialist Lisa Coacher, YMCA Coordinator Anne Powell, and ninth-grade counselor Susan Nyman.

“The school organization can play a critical role in determining students’ success in academics and social adaptation," reads the program’s rationale. "The ninth grade Summer Bridge program will serve to better prepare incoming ninth-graders for the academic expectations of high school and will support positive social experiences between ninth grade students."

The Summer Bridge Program was implemented last year as a result of national research that found that “up to 60 percent of students who were identified at risk in middle school do not graduate [high school] with their class.” Thus, at West Seattle High, the program is a school-wide effort of associated student body and faculty members like Coacher and Powell, and ninth-grade teachers like math teacher Huong Nguyen – who is currently working on a “hands-on, fun math project” called the “Parachute Project.”

Since the program considers math and language arts as important academic subjects, ninth-grade math and language art teachers will create activities and workshops for the incoming freshmen, who will attend the two-week summer program from June 23 to 26 and August 24 to 28.

Students will also take a school reading inventory assessment in June, which teachers will use to assess the future freshmen’s knowledge.

The program prepares the freshmen for high school with “High School 101,” math, writing, technology, and team-building workshops. The students will also have a summer reading book that the language arts workshops will study; possible books include "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie and "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson.

They will also participate in a community service project to get a leg-up on their community service hours.

Coacher, Powell, and Assistant Principal Anitra Pinchback-Jones have supported the program since it began last year as a two-day orientation.

“The ninth-grade academic achievement program has been a welcome addition to West Seattle High School,” said Jones. She also expressed her appreciation of the ninth-graders’ involvement and participation in the new programs this year.

Coacher describes the program as one that promotes partnership, connections to school and the community, preparation, transitions from middle to high school, and community service. She also hopes to continue the Summer Bridge program for as long as possible.

As for its success, it’s hard to tell at this point, said Coacher. But a recent survey the current freshmen took on April 27 and an end-of-the-year evaluation of the freshmen’s opinions of the program will measure its success and help coordinators improve the program for Westside’s future freshmen.

All incoming freshmen are encouraged to attend both sessions, June 23 to 26 and August 24 to 28, in order to make a smooth transition into becoming a successful Westside student.

Elizabeth Lee is a West Seattle High School journalism student and this article appears originally in the school newspaper, The Chinook.