Milwaukee Public Schools’ Summer Academy program is expanding its “Summer Adventures,” outdoor experiences at community institutions that connect to classroom learning based on rigorous college- and career-ready standards.

Summer Academy is MPS’ largest summer school program, providing K-8 students the chance to reinforce what they’ve learned in the previous and preview what they will learn in the coming year.

The expanded experiences join a host of new summer programs this year, including a camp to prepare students to succeed in college-level Advanced Placement courses, an Italian language camp at Victory School and a Bradley Tech summer camp connecting middle school students to career and technical education.

MPS’ Extended School Year program for students with significant special needs is bringing some of the outside “Summer Adventures” institutions such as Discovery World and the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center into classrooms.

In total, about 5,000 Milwaukee children are participating in MPS summer school programs, most of which began last week. Limited spaces are still available in some programs, including Summer Academy. Call (414) 475-8238 to enroll or visit our Summer Academy page to see a list of all sites.

“Keeping students learning over the summer with engaging programs is mission critical to help them prepare for the year ahead,” MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver said. “It also helps fight summer learning loss, which is the tendency for students to lose some of the progress they made in the previous year during the summer.”

In addition to the above programs, MPS is expanding its Project Lead the Way pre-engineering camps and adding additional English as a Second Language sites, providing options closer to families’ homes around the city. MPS also continues to partner with Columbia St. Mary’s Smart Smiles dental care program to provide free dental care to students in need.

Complementing summer school programs, MPS’ Milwaukee Recreation also provides Community Learning Centers, Child Care Camps, Safe Places, Summer Recreation Enrichment Camps and summer playground programs. For more information on Milwaukee Recreation programs, visit MilwaukeeRecreation.net or call (414) 475-8701.