Summit Charter rolls out red carpet for students
Students arriving for their first day of school at Summit Charter Collegiate Academy, Redwood Campus, had a reason to feel special Thursday morning.
Students at the Burton School District charter school on Redwood Drive were not only greeted by staff as they entered, they walked the red carpet and had their names announced as they entered.
First-year Principal Jorge Ramos was taking part in the fun, celebrating the new year along with staff and students.
Summit Charter was one of 10 campuses in the Burton district to welcome students for the new school year. Ramos said they roll out the red carpet every year.
Summit Charter is seeing a growth in enrollment of about 100 students.
“Growth is occurring in the high school,” he said of the seventh grade through 12th grade campus.
He said they use to see a lot of students leave the school after eighth grade, but now that is not as much the case. “We’re see more of those kids now staying,” he said.
Summit Charter is an International Baccalaureate School, also offers dual enrollment in college classes, is a dual-immersion campus and has the Capturing Kids Hearts program where all staff, including non-teachers, have been trained to better interact and encourage students.
Ramos said all ninth grade students are enrolled in the college and high school courses.
After students walked the red carpet, the school had a photo booth in which they could put on props and have their photo taken with a classmate.
Ramos said the campus now has more than 700 students, with about 400 of those in the high school. Volleyball will be the school’s only fall sports offered.
Burton Superintendent Sharon Kamberg said they had an uneventful start to the new school year, but the district is up almost 200 students over a year ago.
“We had no glitches,” she said, although traffic was congested around schools as more and more parents are choosing to drive their children to school. “We don’t have that much parking.”
Kamberg said they had a district official at every campus to assist the local principals.
“Our principals really appreciated the support,” she added.
Should the other 70 students expected on Thursday show up, the district will see about a 6 percent increase in enrollment. She said that increase is evenly divided among district schools and the charter schools.
Kamberg also said they have gotten possession of the land for the next school site and they hope to begin construction in the next few days. That site is where Redwood Drive will be extended north of the Summit Charter Collegiate Academy campus there.