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Summer Enrichment

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NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Hello parents, families, and staff! I hope you are having a wonderful week and looking forward to our first day on Monday, June 28th!

This is an example of the weekly “newsletter” you will receive from me via email throughout the program. This one is a bit on the long side ;-) I apologize, but it includes a lot of key information. Much of the information will be included at the bottom of every weekly email to keep important reminders up to date!

Please note that this email is separated into the following categories:

  • Personnel

  • First Day Protocol

  • Volunteer Lunch (if applicable to your student)

  • Scripts

  • Important Notes

  • Important Dates

  • Important Links

  • Important Names

Thank you very much!

Personnel

Jenny Cort (admin@slsummerenrichment.org) - Program Coordinator

Jenny is our head honcho and overseer of the program. Her mother, Debbie Little, founded Summer Enrichment in 1988 (read more about our history here.) She communicates with Youth Assistance on our behalf, and handles the background mechanics that keep the program running. As this role is time-consuming, she is only present with us during program hours for a couple days per week. Any questions regarding the inner-workings of our organization, payments, and overall board-related issues can be directed to her.

Marcie Kryka (director@slsummerenrichment.org) - Program Director

Marcie (that’s me!) is our direct supervisor and point person for both the Elementary and Mid-High sessions. I am present during program hours daily to oversee activities, make schedules, manage staff and student concerns, and communicate with parents. If you have any questions regarding the program’s day-to-day activities, I am the person you will reach out to. Please note that I will be sending out a weekly email “newsletter” with information like this email. Please keep an eye on the key dates at the bottom of each email.

Program Staff/Activity Leaders

Our staff is who keep the activities and fun rolling! These individuals will be in charge of running activities, writing scripts, and directing shows. They are the people your students will have the most interaction with this summer. There may be some names you recognize, and there may be some new faces! These are the folks you will talk to before/after your student’s session if you have questions about scripts, costumes, etc.

Joey Abate (Elementary)

Ayana Ihara (Elementary)

Ben Machesky (Elementary & Mid-High)

Grace Mosher (Mid-High)

Ethan Ponsock (Elementary & Mid-High)

Cooper Schultz (Elementary & Mid-High)

Miranda Stepchuk (Elementary & Mid-High)

Jake Werner (Elementary & Mid-High)

Hannah Willett (Elementary & Mid-High)

You can find more information about our amazing staff at the following links:



First Day Protocol

If you are new to the program (or need a memory refresher), this is how the first day works.

You will report to the 6th Grade Entrance off of Nine Mile Road (Door #7) at Millennium Middle School (61526 Nine Mile Road), and we will have staff outside and inside the building to direct you to where you need to go.


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Elementary Students

Many parents opt to stay for the first few minutes to hear our introductions to the program. You may do that if you wish, but it is not required.

After introductions, we will do a roll call of sorts to tell your student who their teachers will be for the summer. Then they will split up and go to their individual classrooms to get to know their teachers and hear about their classroom rules and plans!

Mid-High

This is much more informal. Mid-High is not split into individual classrooms, and we spend a lot of time together as a big group. Once students are cast to their plays, they will have smaller group time to work on their shows. But all other activities are done as one unit.

Both Groups

After getting acclimated to our routine, please be mindful of your student's timetable. Elementary runs from 10:00-12:00, and Mid-High from 1:00-4:00. Please be respectful about these times. Our staff has work to do both before and after your student's respective session. We humbly ask that you do not drop them off too early, or pick them up too late, as this disrupts our staff's other job responsibilities. Emergencies and accidents happen, and that is okay. But overall, please help us follow our schedules as closely as possible.


Volunteer Lunch Protocol

Parents of middle- and high-school volunteers who eat lunch with us at noon:

We are doing lunch a little differently this year. In previous years, students were able to leave campus to get lunch with written notes from their parents. This will still be allowed—however, we now have an official permission slip and students will need to sign out and in if they leave for lunch.


We will pass out permission slips during week 1, but if you would like to fill it out now so your student can go get lunch on the first day, I have attached the form to this email. Please print and fill it out and have them bring it on Day 1 :-)





Scripts

Due to our limited access to facility equipment such as printers and copiers, this year we will be administering all scripts via Google Docs. Please have your students print these at home and bring them in every day to practice! If you have any difficulties opening the documents or do not have access to a printer, please let us know and we will be more than happy to provide further guidance.


Scripts will be separated into two folders: one for Elementary, and one for Mid-High. Elementary students will be responsible for one script each, and Mid-High students will each have two. Please keep in mind that Middle School volunteers should also print a copy of the script for the Elementary classroom they are a part of. They may have a small role in the show or need a script to help others practice lines.


If you are unsure of which scripts your child(ren) need to download when the time comes, please feel free to email me and I will direct you to the correct shows.


As of now, we plan to have scripts available to download and print on Tuesday, July 13th. I will continue to keep you apprised if this estimate changes.


You can access the folder via this link.


Important Notes

  • Please remind your students to adhere to standard school dress code. We also ask that all students wear close-toed shoes. We will be having games and activities that involve extensive movement (cardio and dance, for example), and close-toed shoes are the safest option to avoid any potential injuries.

  • Please also note that it is important to let your student’s teachers know about scheduled absences. If they need to miss some time due to illness or emergency, this is no problem! (And there is no need to “call them in” absent in these cases.) But if they will be absent for an extended period of time for camp, vacation, etc., having advance notice helps our staff prepare activities accordingly. If you included these dates in your registration already, I have those records and you do not need to inform us again.

  • Our annual Tricky Tray fundraiser will take place on performance nights. We collect various donated items between $5 and $10 from families to raffle at the end of each performance night. We will be searching for parents to help with asking for donations from local businesses (most businesses have worked with us in the past and look forward to participating). Please let us know if you’d be interested in lending a hand in this task.

  • If you would like to volunteer in any way, please let us know! We are asking for parents to help visit businesses in the South Lyon Area, and sell Tricky Tray tickets on performance nights. We would love and appreciate any help you are able to provide, and your dedication contributes to the longevity of our program!

  • If you know of any additional fundraising opportunities, please let us know!


Important Dates


Monday, June 28th: Our first day!


Tuesday, June 29th: We will be starting our Penny Drive fundraiser! More details to follow, but if you are familiar, feel free to have your student start bringing in coins whenever you wish :-)


Saturday, June 29th: Car Wash Fundraiser in the Dairy Queen parking lot 10:00AM-1:00PM


Monday, July 5th & Tuesday, July 6th: No Program. Enjoy your holiday!


Tuesday, July 13th: Scripts go live to download/print on our Google Drive folder, which you can access here.


July TBA: Aubree’s Fundraiser


Thursday, August 5th - Elementary Performance: No program for Middle School. Elementary dress rehearsal will take place 10:00AM-12:00PM, and our final performance will be held at 7:00PM. Please note that students will be asked to arrive early in order to prepare for their shows. This typically means between 6:30-6:45. We will keep you apprised with an exact time as we get closer. Please note: there is no admission fee for the shows! Coming to watch is completely free. Please invite friends and family to join the fun!


Friday, August 6th - Mid-High Performance: Mid-High dress rehearsal will be held from 9:30AM-1:00PM, and our final performance will be held at 7:00PM. Please note that students will be asked to arrive early in order to prepare for their shows. This typically means between 6:30-6:45. We will keep you apprised with an exact time as we get closer. Please note: there is no admission fee for the shows! Coming to watch is completely free. Please invite friends and family to join the fun!



Important Links


Important Names

Jenny Cort - Program Coordinator (admin@slsummerenrichment.org)

Marcie Kryka - Program Director (director@slsummerenrichment.org)


Program Staff

Joey Abate (Elementary)

Ayana Ihara (Elementary)

Ben Machesky (Elementary & Mid-High; Theatre 101)

Grace Mosher (Mid-High; Music)

Ethan Ponsock (Elementary & Mid-High; Sign Language)

Cooper Schultz (Elementary & Mid-High; Theatre 101)

Miranda Stepchuk (Elementary & Mid-High; Dance)

Jake Werner (Elementary & Mid-High; Music)

Hannah Willett (Elementary & Mid-High; Music)

You can find more information about our amazing staff at the following links:



If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me any time.

Thank you for your cooperation! We will see you Monday!



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Hello everyone!


I can’t believe it’s the 6th week already. The Program always flies by, but it has seemed even faster being online. I wanted to take the time to thank you all for your patience and flexibility this summer. It has been so fantastic to have this level of participation, and we appreciate you! We hope your students enjoy their unique “collector’s item" t-shirts this summer with the “Online” logo :-) 


Our last day doing meetings is Thursday the 30th! The video will follow next week, and Tricky Tray will run for a week after the program ends. 


TRICKY TRAY


The Tricky Tray fundraiser page is live! You can access it via this link or by texting Tricky20 to (406) 302-5086. Please note that the ticket sales portion is not yet live, as the website is currently confirming our payment processing information. 

The fundraiser will last until August 7th!


T-SHIRTS


If you were unable to pick your t-shirts up during the scheduled dates earlier this week, please email Jenny Cort as soon as possible to set up an alternate arrangement!


PERFORMANCE VIDEO


Reminder that footage for all Shorts is due tomorrow, Monday 7/27 at 7PM. Footage for all Specials (sign, dance, music) and Skits is due Friday 7/31 at 5PM. Please be considerate of these dates, as a few of our staff are volunteering their time to edit everything together! You are, of course, more than welcome to turn things in early. But please be advised that in this event, staff may ask for a few touch-ups as we continue rehearsing and finalizing details throughout the week. 


We plan to have our video premiere on Monday 8/3 at 7:00PM. If this changes, I will email with further updates. Please turn your video footage into our Drop-off Drive. Also please note that Ms. Hannah has uploaded an audio file to that drive of the piano part that accompanies your students’ music footage, and Mr. Ethan and Ms. Miranda have included themselves doing the sign language and dances for your practice purposes. 


As of right now, I am planning to put together a DVD of this year’s video! There will be a fee for this, serving to both reimburse my personal expenses for the project and to give some money back to the Program. I will email you with more details after the final video premiere and you can decide at that time if it’s something you might be interested in!


Lastly, I am including an interactive PDF at the bottom of this email of this summer’s Playbill. This will accompany the video to help you follow along as you watch!


SCHEDULE


The schedule will be significantly different this week, as is to be expected with the home stretch of the program. Please follow the Tockify calendar closely! I am including screenshots of this week’s schedule and our detailed practice schedule for skit time as well. 


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DETAILED SKIT PRACTICE SCHEDULE


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PLAYBILL Also available on the main page of our website!







IMPORTANT DATES

Monday, June 22nd: Our first day! Wednesday, July 1st & Thursday, July 2nd: No Program. Enjoy your holiday! Tuesday, July 21st & Wednesday, July 22nd (3PM-7PM): No-contact porch/garage pickup for program t-shirts (and drop-off for Tricky Tray!) Monday, July 27th (7PM):  Student performance footage for “Short” skits due  Thursday, July 30th: This is our last program day! Friday, July 31st (5PM): Student performance footage for “Skit” skits and specials (sign, dance, music) due  Monday, August 3rd: This is our tentative date for a live watch party of the final performance footage put together by our students this year. This date may be subject to change depending on staff availability to assist in video editing. Stay tuned for details! Friday, August 7th: Tricky Tray prizes drawn! IMPORTANT LINKS Summer Enrichment Website Summer Enrichment Scripts Drive Summer Enrichment Video Drop-Off Drive Tricky Tray Fundraiser Online Summer Enrichment News/Announcements Blog Summer Enrichment - Donate Summer 2020 Program Calendar via Tockify Summer 2020 Online Classrooms Summer 2020 Online Schedule GoToMeeting South Lyon Area Youth Assistance Summer Enrichment Facebook Group Summer Enrichment Instagram IMPORTANT NAMES Jenny Cort - Program Coordinator (admin@slsummerenrichment.org) Marcie Kryka - Program Director (director@slsummerenrichment.org) Program Staff Henry Berardelli Eric DeBono Ben Machesky Ethan Ponsock Cooper Schultz Miranda Stepchuk Jake Werner Hannah Willett


Thank you once more for everything you have all done this summer to help us make Summer Enrichment Online a success! We could not have done it without you. 


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Hello, families! ANNOUNCEMENTS Please read this week’s announcements and review the new “Important Dates” section! T-SHIRTS T-Shirts are officially ready! Jenny Cort will be holding no-contact pick-up at her house (garage) on Tuesday 7/21 and Wednesday 7/22 from 3PM-7PM. You may also bring Tricky Tray items to drop off at this time! Address:  (Provided via email) Please email me here or text me (please give me your last name in the text) at 734-730-4441 when you have completed your pickup.  If you need to make alternate arrangements for pickup, please email Jenny at admin@slsummerenrichment.org TRICKY TRAY Please help with our Tricky Tray fundraiser! We are a nonprofit organization, which means we use registration fees and fundraisers to directly fund the program. Fundraisers, especially, are integral to our ability to continue operations.  Our Program Coordinator, Jenny Cort, will be heading up this project. Here is a message from her:  Hello everyone! Even though we’re virtual, we’re going to be doing our annual Tricky Tray fundraiser! It’ll be an online raffle with no contact prize pick up. More details will be sent soon but for right now, we’re looking for raffle donations.  As in previous years, we’re asking for new items $10 and below for any age level or interest. If you’d like to donate or have friends and family that would like to donate, you can send/drop off prize items at 434 West Lake Street in South Lyon. Please plan to drop off items during t-shirt pickups ;-)  VIRTUAL PERFORMANCES

We will continue working on our virtual skits this week! Please note that we will be asking students to turn in completed footage for a few of their shows (their “Short” skits) this coming Friday, 7/24, by 5:00PM. More instructions to follow on how/where to turn in the footage. I’ve included the Order of Events page from our virtual playbill below to help you determine which shows fall into this category! This week, students will be expected to report to their assigned practice rooms during skit time. You can find these details in their personalized script folders on the Google Drive.  If they are confused or forget, we will still have staff in the Stage classroom to help direct them to the correct place!



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WEEK 5 SCHEDULE This schedule can be viewed in full on our Tockify calendar. You can click on event listings to see the classroom links (also seen in the chart below). There is even an option to subscribe and sync with your main calendar! You can also search specifically for “Elementary” or “Mid-High”. Volunteers who are also registered for the Mid-High session should plan to attend Elementary events as well (you can also search for “Volunteers”.)  Elementary students will have the majority of their activities between 10:00AM and 12:00PM Monday-Wednesday. Please note they will have longer days on Thursdays for shared group activities.  Non-volunteer Mid-High students will have most of their activities between 12:30PM and 2:45PM on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. Please note they will have longer days on Wednesdays for shared group activities.  Volunteer Mid-High students should expect to attend all of these events.  The Tockify calendar and Classroom links are also available on our website.  Feel free to contact me if you have trouble.  Thank you! Week 5 Schedule Snapshot With Classrooms


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Week 5 Schedule: Elementary



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Week 5 Schedule: Mid-High


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Practice Schedule With Classrooms


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All Classrooms & Passwords (Provided via email)

Important Dates Monday, June 22nd: Our first day! Wednesday, July 1st & Thursday, July 2nd: No Program. Enjoy your holiday! Tuesday, July 21st & Wednesday, July 22nd (3PM-7PM): No-contact porch/garage pickup for program t-shirts (and drop-off for Tricky Tray!) Friday, July 24th (5PM):  Student performance footage for “Short” skits due ("where/how" details to follow this week) Thursday, July 30th: The final day for Tricky Tray prize drop off! Thursday, July 30th: This is our last program day! Friday, July 31st (5PM): Student performance footage for “Skit” skits and specials (sign, dance, music) due (“where/how” details to follow) Monday, August 3rd: This is our tentative date for a live watch party of the final performance footage put together by our students this year. This date may be subject to change depending on staff availability to assist in video editing. Stay tuned for details! Friday, August 7th: Tricky Tray prizes drawn! Important Links Summer Enrichment Website Summer Enrichment Scripts Drive Summer Enrichment News/Announcements Blog Summer Enrichment - Donate Summer 2020 Program Calendar via Tockify Summer 2020 Online Classrooms Summer 2020 Online Schedule GoToMeeting South Lyon Area Youth Assistance Summer Enrichment Facebook Group Summer Enrichment Instagram Important Names Jenny Cort - Program Coordinator (admin@slsummerenrichment.org) Marcie Kryka - Program Director (director@slsummerenrichment.org) Program Staff Henry Berardelli Eric DeBono Ben Machesky Ethan Ponsock Cooper Schultz Miranda Stepchuk Jake Werner Hannah Willett If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at any time. 



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CONTACT US

South Lyon Area Youth Assistance

1000 N. Lafayette

South Lyon, MI  48178

SUMMER 2025 PROGRAM DATES

Begin: Monday, June 23rd, 2025

End: Thursday, July 31st (ELEMENTARY)

End: Friday, August 1st (MID-HIGH)

@ CENTENNIAL MIDDLE SCHOOL

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DONATE TO SUMMER ENRICHMENT

Youth Assistance and Summer Enrichment are nonprofit organizations, and benefit tremendously from community support.

 

Please add "Summer Enrichment" to note/memo section of payment page to ensure your donation is processed accordingly.

 

Thank you for your contribution!

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