Skills Enrichment Program Wraps up 22nd Year

Despite the construction on campus, the Skills Enrichment Program (SEP) returned for its 22nd year at Poly this summer. More than 200 of PUSD's students entering grades 8-12 took academic enrichment classes taught by Poly and PUSD teachers, as well as exciting elective options created by the interns, all of whom are graduates of SEP or of Poly. In five weeks, the students wrote original plays, songs, and poems; visited museums and colleges; read novels and wrote essays; painted and drew; attended presentations from Mayda del Valle, Rosa Flores and Manny Medrano; and created a yearbook to commemorate the summer. It's a fast-paced program in which students develop skills that may otherwise diminish from lack of use during the summer. After being chosen to participate as fourth-graders, these students spend eight summers attending SEP partner schools Chandler, Westridge, Mayfield Junior, and Poly, and make lifelong friends on the way. By the time the SEP seniors graduate, they have spent the equivalent of one entire school year in SEP. With a focus on college preparedness and the college admissions process, SEP ultimately helps every student choose a college that is right for them.