They spent much of the time working through one of the required summer reading books, Tuesdays With Morrie  by Mitch Albom.  The book prompted many great conversations about what is truly important in life, and led into some discussions about what the students might need to do differently in order to make their high school experiences more fruitful than how things went in middle school.  This includes steps they can take to improve attendance, accepting and asking for help, making a good impression on each teacher by participating in class discussions, arriving to class on time and keeping cell phones away during class.

 

Since the program is voluntary these are students who WANT help, but change is hard.  They started to learn that the RFL staff is there to support them both academically and emotionally, and they also got to know Nala, the program’s trained assistance dog.

 

Though the students and staff will savor the last month of summer vacation, they are eager to get started at the end of August.