Staff and Students Team Up for Powerful New Program Launch

This past summer, forty sixth and seventh graders from the Orchard Gardens School in Boston participated in a summer program hosted by the school in partnership with Citizen Schools, Thompson Island Outward Bound and the Boston Harbor Islands Park Service. The program kicked-off with a two-night camping trip on Thompson Island.  Each weekday for four weeks, students traveled to the island where they received academic support to promote ongoing learning over the summer months.  Students also had the chance to participate in apprenticeships where they learned how to sail, map out the carbon footprint of humans on the island, and catalogue non-native species, determining their impact on the Boston Harbor Islands.

Citizen Schools launched one of its newest expanded learning time sites at the Orchard Gardens School this fall. Supporters included: Barr Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Boston Public Schools, Catholic Charities of Boston, City of Boston, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston, Eos Foundation, Nellie Mae Education Foundation, New Profit, Inc., Strategic Grant Partners, and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.