LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) – Lima’s Freedom School celebrated the end of another successful summer filled with learning and fun. To mark the occasion, students in the program hosted a special event for their families.
The national program was introduced to Lima in 2016 and has since helped students—referred to as Scholars — develop into lifelong learners through STEM activities, field trips, and lessons in social engagement. One of the key focuses of Freedom School is promoting literacy and fostering a love of reading.
“Reading is important. It's significant. Reading translates into learning at all levels. So just developing that love for reading so that they will read more, and it will help them, you know, and all their other academic studies, but it also expand their knowledge as well. They learn about community things. They learn about their culture. There's just so much the program is rich in knowledge and growth, period,” said Andrea Guice, executive director of the Lima Freedom School Program.
Even college students who once attended the program returned this summer to teach a new generation of scholars and share the lessons they learned from their time at Freedom School.
“Reading was always been a challenge for me. So, I feel this program really helped me stay up to with everybody else. And I think coming to the Freedom School, it was a challenge, and I think you just can't give up. You got to stay with it, keep through, because it does work. It was fun, and it helped me learn a lot about me,” said Chaeli Drake, a sophomore at Kent State University.
“So, a lot of what I've learned was black culture and being prideful in your own skin color, and a lot of scholars don't have that coming in. So having them be able to see themselves in their books was always a big thing, and I wish I had as a kid. So, having them be able to see themselves have stories about themselves, was always amazing, and I wanted to pass that on to them,” said Sharon Leslie, a junior at the University of Findlay.
To help prepare for the new school year, scholars also received backpacks and school supplies as part of the closing celebration.
