Special Edition: Welcome back to school!

Happy September! To celebrate the new school year, we’re showcasing the cool things happening in some our regions this summer.

In San Bernardino, students had a blast in their virtual summer programs! Students picked up activity packs to participate online, and the whole region pooled together their remaining budget to raffle off 18 bikes for the kids enrolled in summer learning.

In Southeast Los Angeles, students learned about cyber safety and eSports as part of their summer programming. eSports was a collaborative club between students and staff to teach students how to be safe, respectful, and responsible on the internet while having fun.

In Riverside, staff members have been essential in providing wellness checks this summer in Lake Elsinore. In these wellness checks, staff called families to check in on them and reported that information back to the school district to ensure families and students got the support they needed.

Lastly, we opened up a whole new region in Palm Springs! School started August 5 with nearly 100 students enrolled in Think Together programs in grades first through eighth.

As schools start the 2020-21 school year, Think Together staff members are ready to support our students whether digitally, in-person, or hybrid. In fact, many of our school district partners are gearing up to go in-person in the next few weeks.

In Southeast Los Angeles, Compton and Bellflower started in-person learning last week providing students with onsite distance learning support aligned with the instructional day. Our CEO, Randy Barth and the leadership team visited CUSD students to wish them good luck on a new school year and thanked our staff for their frontline support.

Our Los Angeles Metro region is slated to have a few of their schools start in early September, with our San Gabriel Valley region having Azusa and Baldwin Park starting mid-September. South Whittier School District in our Santa Fe Springs region will operate at a centralized hub once a date is determined in late September or early October. Our Orange County and Bay Area Regions will operate on site later this fall once district plans are finalized. Families looking to know more can receive updates from their school districts.

No matter how learning is happening, Think Together staff members are there and ready to support our students, families, and school partners. This year has been a rollercoaster, but the one thing that has stayed constant is our mission to change the odds for kids.

Now let’s get ready, get set, and learn!