For many students, the first day of a new school year brings a mix of excitement and uncertainty. A new grade can mean new academic expectations, unfamiliar teachers, different classmates and sometimes an entirely new school building.
But as students across Washington return to classrooms this fall, some are walking through those doors with greater familiarity and confidence thanks to the time they spent in DiscoverWorks this summer.
Throughout the summer, students strengthened reading and math skills, practiced school-day routines, built relationships and gained confidence before moving into their next grade. That preparation reflects DiscoverWorks’ broader goal: keeping students learning and connected during the summer so they return to school stronger, more confident and ready to succeed.
For some of the youngest students in Wapato School District, that meant preparing for one of their first big school transitions: first grade.
Bianca Gonzalez taught a rising first-grade dual-language class, where students spent their mornings strengthening reading and math skills in Spanish while receiving support based on their individual needs. Some focused on fluency and two-syllable words. Others were already at grade level and were challenged to move ahead.
But Gonzalez was preparing them for more than academics.
“I hope they feel ready and confident,” she said during the program. “I’ve been telling them since day one, your teachers love you guys. Your teachers are ready for you guys. Your teachers are ready to see you guys grow.”
For students who may have less structure during the summer months, DiscoverWorks also helped maintain familiar routines. Gonzalez said that attending each day gave students a regular schedule and kept them engaged in the math, reading and writing skills they would use in the fall.
Across the state in Seattle, readiness looked different for students preparing for another major transition.
At Rainier Beach High School, rising ninth graders from middle schools across Seattle spent part of their summer in the very building they would soon call their high school. Through Seattle’s DiscoverWorks program, students had the opportunity to learn their way around the building, meet future teachers and begin building friendships with classmates before ninth grade started.
For rising ninth grader Rylan, that familiarity meant fewer unknowns waiting for them in the fall.
“I get to know the building. I get to start learning topics that we might learn in high school, and I get to know people too,” they said, adding that they would not have to worry as much about making friends, memorizing the building or learning who their teachers were all at once.
A similar approach took shape in Tacoma, where rising ninth graders from middle schools across the district gathered at Lincoln High School before the school year began. Through DiscoverWorks, students met future teachers, built relationships with classmates and became more comfortable in the high school environment before returning in the fall.
For incoming ninth grader AJ, arriving at Lincoln initially came with some uncertainty.
“On the first day, I got a little worried and scared because I didn’t know where I was going to,” he said. But by the end of the program, AJ was encouraging other incoming Lincoln students to participate, pointing to the opportunity to see friends and experience new things.
That kind of familiarity can matter just as much as reviewing an equation or finishing a book.
In Ellensburg, educators at Ida Nason Aronica Elementary used the summer to help students build on skills they had learned during the previous school year while approaching them in new, hands-on ways. Students strengthened skills in reading and math through activities focused on comprehension, place value and problem-solving, while building confidence along the way.
Stacie Clasen, an MTSS specialist supporting the program, said students were able to build on where they had left off rather than lose momentum over the summer.
She also saw momentum change how some students felt about school. One student who had struggled academically and had difficulty connecting with peers during the regular school year was flourishing in DiscoverWorks, smiling every day and repeatedly asking when she could come back and do more.
Clasen hoped students would carry those feelings with them into the new year, remembering the excitement they felt, the connections they made and returning ready for school without the summer slide educators often see.
Cynthia Hilburn, dean of students at Ida Nason Aronica Elementary School, described the preparation in another way. She said DiscoverWorks helped connect students’ prior learning to a summer experience that could leave them thinking: “I’m ready to come back in the fall. This is safe.”
Sometimes, readiness was even simpler. It meant finally understanding something that had not quite clicked before.
At Four Heroes Elementary in Clover Park School District, rising fifth grader Aliayah joined DiscoverWorks hoping to strengthen her math and ELA skills before fall. Instead of immediately moving on to harder concepts, her teacher helped students revisit foundational skills.
That extra practice changed how Aliayah felt about starting fifth grade.
“I feel more confident,” she said, explaining that she was learning the math, reading and ELA skills she felt she needed before moving ahead.
At Terrace Heights Elementary in East Valley School District, paraprofessional Angie Sires saw similar preparation taking place. The extra summer learning time allowed staff to target academic gaps so students could return in the fall ready to build on the skills they had been developing. She also watched students who had once been hesitant to engage with peers become more social and confident.
These experiences show that being “ready” for a new school year means something different for everyone.
It can mean knowing how to solve a word problem. It can also mean knowing where your classroom is.
It can mean reading more fluently. It can also mean recognizing a friendly face in the hallway.
It can mean remembering a routine, making a new friend, knowing a future teacher or beginning the year thinking: I’ve done hard things before. I can do this.
Christopher Chase II, a site supervisor with Tacoma’s program, said students at Lincoln High School spent the summer building relationships with adults who would be there when they began high school, along with friendships they could reconnect with once school started.
“If them participating this summer gets them excited to come back to school and start as a ninth grader, then I feel like we’ve really won,” he said.
Now, as students settle into classrooms for a new school year, they carry the preparation they gained through DiscoverWorks with them.
Students are stepping into a new grade, a new classroom, or even a new school, equipped with the valuable skills, connections, and routines they developed through DiscoverWorks.