Who knew that a summer working at an ice cream parlor could change a young person’s life? We knew. For high school students, summers provide an opportunity to learn, grow and evolve into more mature and confident versions of their pre-summer selves.

At Gateway, we work hard to ensure that every student has a meaningful summer opportunity to keep busy, build their resume and college applications with new skills and experiences, build community, and earn money. This time of year as we arrive back to school, it is incredible to hear stories of student’s summer adventures: from jobs to travel, volunteerism to summer classes, internships to camps; our students are making the most of their summers and we see the results and we are proud.

Gateway partners with organizations and companies in the community to help connect students with summer opportunities. A positive summer experience can be incredibly empowering and serves as a meaningful way to endcap a school year and kick off a new one. The length of a summer is equivalent to roughly a quarter of a school year and an opportunity for a student to earn nearly $5,000 working throughout the summer. A lot of good can happen in these 2 months.

Students have consistently shared that it is empowering to earn their own money and exciting to be able to both save money for college and earn their own spending money too. Students make new friends and connections over the course of the summer and engage with the larger community in new and exciting ways. Students build a stronger work ethic as they experience the value of both quality independent and team work. Students practice basic professional practices: punctuality, reliability, communication, etc. Students step outside of their comfort zones and try new things. And perhaps most importantly, students gain confidence and character as they journey through their summer endeavors. Likely starting the experience inevitably timid and nervous, students finish their summers confident and inspired.

At Gateway, we believe that all students need and deserve an education that sets them up for success in college and beyond. On a similar note, we believe that all students need and deserve access to real-world learning experiences to allow them to thrive now and down the road and summer is the perfect time for this. We want to thank all of our incredible community partners who bring so many of these opportunities to our students.