The Alabama Power Foundation recently released its annual report for 2022, highlighting the good works of its nonprofit partners. Alabama News Center is sharing the stories of four foundation partners that are featured in the new report, titled All Forward. Today’s feature is about the Blount County Education Foundation.

Every summer, Mitchie Neel witnesses the power of progress.

Students participating in Blount County Education Foundation (BCEF) summer camps addressing learning loss are assessed at the program’s beginning and its conclusion. The results show that students don’t just hold onto knowledge from the previous school year; many of them make gains.

While this is exciting news for the foundation – proof of these programs’ value and success – no one is more thrilled than the students.

“They just beam,” said Neel, BCEF executive director. “They walk down the hall, gripping that piece of paper that shows what they have accomplished, and they actually glow. It’s a special thing to watch; it touches your heart.”

Since it started in 1998, flipping on a light for area students has been BCEF’s goal. And for 25 years, it has pursued one mission: to promote academic excellence in Blount County schools.

Powerful programming

BCEF has provided more than $7 million in support of school system educators, students and their families, including two primary initiatives: classroom grants and its summer programs.

The grants help teachers access needed resources and purchase supplies and equipment for their classrooms. In 2022 alone, BCEF awarded more than $225,000 to more than 250 teachers. And, thanks in part to an Alabama Power Foundation grant, BCEF’s free summer programs in 2022 served more than 1,051 students in its Sign-Up camps, which develop students’ talents and passions, and its summer literacy camps, which focus on preventing learning loss (often dubbed the “summer slide”) in elementary students.

All for Progress: Blount County Education Foundation from Alabama News Center on Vimeo.

Neel stresses the value of these efforts. “Research clearly shows that students who stay connected to learning when school is out each summer experience less learning loss than students who don’t, and sometimes make gains,” she said.

Keeping kids plugged into education during summer break is easier in large cities, where parents can pick from a wealth of scholastic-development options to stimulate young minds, including day camps at museums and zoos, art and music classes and more. But in rural Blount County, the choices are few and far between. So, BCEF stepped up.

“Our board realized early on it was not achievement issues at the root of our achievement gaps but opportunity issues,” Neel says. “We wondered, what can we provide for our students that would impact them positively from an academic perspective but also benefit the whole child?”

The BCEF board answered the question by creating summer programs that check both boxes, balancing reading and math instruction with a blend of activities to engage students for maximum retention. The programs broaden students’ nonacademic development by integrating leadership, problem-solving and decision-making skills plus character-building into the curricula.

“The enrichment aspects are a large part of our programs’ success,” Neel said. “We expose them to visual arts, music, drama, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) activities and more. We bring in speakers and other interesting people for interactive learning. And we help them hone other traits that will allow them to increase their capacity to learn for the rest of their lives.”

Summer success

The programs, which deploy small teacher-to-pupil ratios and other research-proven methods, are working, surpassing the original goal of stopping learning loss and pushing kids ahead. Last year, students participating in two BCEF summer camps averaged eight months of learning gains in math and seven months of learning gains in reading.

“That’s why we do this,” Neel said. “It proves that when you follow the research and do these programs correctly, you can impact a child in a powerful way: It’s an impact that lasts a lifetime.”

From supporting summer learning camps to STEAM labs at schools, the Blount County Education Foundation is making a difference in the lives of local students. (contributed)

Providing resource grants to teachers is just one way the Blount County Education Foundation supports learning. (contributed)

One of the summer programs, the Dreamcatchers Camp at Susan Moore Elementary, served 146 students in 2022, but BCEF outreach doesn’t stop with kids.

“We interact with the families to find out what their needs are and see what gaps we can fill,” Neel said, which includes addressing food insecurity. “This community has a high reduced meal rate, and we know nutrition is key to learning, so we send students home with shelf-stable meals for the weekends, as well as snacks.”

The organization stays connected in other ways, such as holding a family celebration night. Field trips play a role in the camps, too. BCEF partners with the Friends of the Locust Fork River to give students a day of play and discovery on the water. “They do lessons on creepy crawlers, woodland creatures, and get to kayak on the river and soak in the fresh air,” Neel said. “You have not lived until you are the one meeting the bus when they come back; they are so alive, just smiling and laughing.”

The key to making summer programs stick is making them enjoyable, Neel said.

“Kids love these programs; even the reading and math interventions are structured to be high-impact and high-engagement. At all our camps, fun is the critical component. They don’t care that everything they are doing is tied to curriculum standards. All they care about is that they’re having a ball.”

Making a meaningful difference

Summertime is fun, but BCEF’s work never stops. Its efforts during the school year include a STEAM lab in every community, updates to career tech departments and continued investment in the High School Ambassadors program, focused on growing leadership and talent for Blount County’s future.

“We believed this would translate into a commitment to lead our county forward, and it has,” Neel said. “We now have teachers and administrators in our school system who were ambassadors, so that’s our program coming to fruition.”

For 25 years, engaging students and propelling their learning forward has been at the heart of the Blount County Education Foundation’s mission. (contributed)

Neel pointed to the vital part the Alabama Power Foundation has played in the organization’s work.

“We would not be here without the Alabama Power Foundation,” which encouraged school districts around the state to create local education foundations. The Alabama Power Foundation provided seed grant money and guidance to help BCEF get established, Neel said. “That is how and why we came to be.”

BCEF remains committed to meeting the needs of Blount County students and to help them overcome hurdles. Continued support from the Alabama Power Foundation has kept BCEF going and growing.

“We know we’re removing barriers that children and their parents face,” she said. “We know we are making a meaningful difference and boosting success. And as we celebrate 25 years, we are ready and excited to keep doing this work for many years to come.”

To learn more about the Blount County Education Foundation, click here. To learn more about the Alabama Power Foundation and view the latest annual report, please visit powerofgood.com.