Achieve’s rigorous summer program fills in the gap for summer learning loss and fosters a love for lifelong learning. About 70 dedicated students are bussed to Nobles from Dorchester, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Mattapan and Roslindale five days a week for six weeks over the summer. Modeled on Nobles values and practices, students are positioned in a rigorous academic environment and are pushed to their highest potential. They take classes in English, math and science as well as develop social skills such as public speaking and build confidence to speak with adults.
Although the program’s standards are set high, Achieve offers students strong mentorship and guidance to overcome obstacles. It is a safe community for the scholars to take risks and be academically interested. For some students, this safe environment is not available at their home school.
Achieve is one of a few tuition-free academic programs for low-income middle school students in the country and its hope is to inspire other independent schools to replicate this program. “The younger we reach the students, the better,” says Assistant Director Eric Nguyen. “They are at such an important part of their lives. For us to really show them that there are people out there who care them and care about their success, and, to be able give them some of the skills to allow them to move forward and find success I think is very important.”