Marion Co., West Virginia, Schools hopes for student instruction recovery through Summer Sole program

Summer Sole began on June 21 and runs through July 14.

“It’s just a short period of time through the summer, but it’s a wonderful period of time for our students to take advantage and stay engaged with education and their teachers in school,” Hage said.

In addition to the daily courses, many of the students take field trips of sorts to the Marion County Technical Center for CTE classes, Pierpont Community & Technical College for aviation courses and Fairmont State University for all things art, music and theater.

“We’re giving them the hands-on skills that help them think of learning not only just as recovering instruction that was lost, but taking those basic skills that were lost and channeling them in new, higher-level hands-on thinking kinds of ways,” Hage said. “The Fairmont State collaboration gives our students some lifelong skills that not only can help them recover some of that confidence that they perhaps may have lost during the pandemic, but it also gives them ways to help them cope and channel their energies in positive ways. Theater boosts communications skills and confidence and listening, and it also encourages students to explore something they never would have been exposed to otherwise.”

Fairmont State University Director of Performing Arts Outreach and Development Leigh Anne Riley said that so far, students have been exposed to theater and music at Fairmont State, with art classes coming next week.

She said that while the students’ core education is critical, the importance of exposure to the arts cannot be overstated.

“A lot of these students have never been in the theater before,” Riley said. “They have never experienced anything with any of the arts other than what they’re getting in their public school experience. Some of them right now don’t have theater, so last week, a lot of it was brand new to them. The same thing was this week … as well as making art next week. It’s something a little bit different and more advanced, probably, than what they’re doing in their regular classrooms during the school year, and it’s also exposing them to the arts. ...”

“It’s great for them to see things that we offer here with the Academy for the Arts, our community theater and community music. It’s a great chance for them to get a taste of what we do here. These are things they can sign up for as extracurricular activities after school, so if they see something they like, they’re meeting our instructors and getting overall exposure to the arts for them.”

Since the pandemic began, Hage said she and her staff have been heavily focused on the recovery of instruction for the county’s students, and while Summer Sole isn’t and shouldn’t be the only means by which that happens, she said that so far, it’s been a success.

“I think it’s one of the interventions that we can use,” she said. “This past year, we added interventionists to schools during the daytime and after school hours, and that was paid for through federal funding. Summer Sole is another one of the tools that we can utilize to help recover that instruction, and it’s an exciting one that is filled with many exciting opportunities and possibilities for our students.”