Seventeen rising eighth-grade students completed the Aiken County Public School District’s (ACPSD) rigorous Summer Infusion Writing Program where they learned valuable new skills while also mastering best practices of excellent writing. Those new skills are already paying dividends for them as middle school students taking high school credit courses.
Congratulations to the seventeen rising eighth-graders who completed the 2020 program, which includes the following students:
Farooq Al-Soudi (Kennedy Middle School); Cambree Fackrell (Kennedy Middle School); Brenda Garrett (Jackson STEM Middle Magnet School); William Gregory (Paul Knox Middle School); Catina Hamilton (New Ellenton Middle STEAM Magnet School); Evan Hargrove (Paul Knox Middle School); Rena Humes (Kennedy Middle School); Jalayah Lloyd (New Ellenton Middle STEAM Magnet School); Clark Long (North Augusta Middle School); Alexis Mathis (Schofield Middle School); Milledge Messick (Kennedy Middle School); Ezra Sadsad (Schofield Middle School); Mason Schafer (Paul Knox Middle School); Celeste Truesdale (Paul Knox Middle School); Adalisia Velasquez-Puentes (Leavelle McCampbell Middle School); Lucas Vincent (Schofield Middle School); and Chatham Wright (Paul Knox Middle School).
Evan Hargrove says the ability to write well is critical in today’s society.
“Becoming a better writer can open so many doors in life,” stated Evan. “I’ve also become a more efficient writer through the Summer Infusion Program.”
Catina Hamilton enjoyed the program because it provided her with an enhanced set of skills that helped push her to a higher level of writing ability.
“I’ve really grown as a writer through this program and also improved my vocabulary,” commented Catina. “It surprised me that writing gives you a lot of freedom and it’s actually pretty easy once you get used to it.”
The program was coordinated by Dustin Fowler, who serves as ACPSD’s Virtual Learning Coordinator, and taught by Aiken High School Teacher Kayla Hostetler.
“The goal of the program is to improve the writing skills and performance of seventh-grade students who will be taking high school credit coursework as eighth-graders,” stated Fowler. “They will also be writing competitively for financial aid scholarships, or perhaps a Scholars Academy application, and even Advanced Placement exams so we want their writing to be top notch.”
Fowler says the program is meant to challenge students in such a way that they reach new levels as writers while also exploring interesting topics in their local community.”
“The program is challenging for the students, but it is a really cool experience,” commented Fowler. “We explore different types of writing with them, such as expository, persuasive, and informative writing. They write about topics they find interesting within their respective communities, so they find out writing looks like within a variety of career fields.”
Summer Infusion students completed several hundred hours of writing throughout the program.
“We had seventeen students who finished the program and we saw their growth in writing increase with each revision they made on their essays,” stated Hostetler. “Using an identical rubric, many students who scored in the 60's with their first drafts were scoring in the 90's range by the time their final drafts were completed.”
Hostetler says her Summer Infusion students excelled during their time in the rigorous program.
“Over the course of the program their essays went from having no formatting, textual evidence, or solid thesis statements at the beginning of the class to having a command of MLA formatting, correct citations of textual evidence, and strong thesis statements,” commented Hostetler. “They worked incredibly hard and I am very proud of all they were able to accomplish as writers.”
The Summer Infusion Writing Program is graciously supported each year through a partnership with Public Education Partners (PEP) which provides funding for student awards.
Congratulations again to our 2020 Summer Infusion Program Completers.
For additional information on the ACPSD Summer Infusion Writing Program, please contact Dustin Fowler via email at DFowler@acpsd.net.
LINK TO DISTRICT PRESS RELEASE: 2020 PR SUMMER INFUSION