It is only the third year the Extended Learning with Community Partnerships (ELCP) program has been running at Wareham High School, but summer program advisor John Flynn said he has already seen the students make excellent strides both personally and academically.

“Kids who don’t belong anyplace -- who aren’t in sports, or academic clubs -- have found their friends, their community,” Flynn said. “About 55 percent [of the kids] are special needs kids. They gravitate more towards this program, and, when you get these kids involved in their communities and school, everything gets better.”

The ELCP program falls under the Community, Academic, Recreation and Enrichment (CARE) umbrella, which is aimed at boosting academically-struggling students in kindergarten through eighth grade. For the past three years, the high school has implemented the ELCP program through the national 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant.

Flynn said there are between 60 and 70 students currently enrolled, and explained that the program operates similarly to the school system’s more traditional “fifth quarter,” or summer school, in which students may make up failed school year credits. Unlike the fifth quarter, however, the school offers a wider range of programs and classes students would not be able to find in the high school, such as photography, cooking, and robotics.

“We also have an internship program we have slowly been building,” Flynn said. “We have at least seven students [in internships] this summer. They are really working on growing, and giving back to their community.”

Some of the internships in which students have been placed include Marion Computers, ABC Child Care, and the Gateway Tavern. Flynn said one student is volunteering at Tobey Hospital.

Another benefit of the program, Flynn said, is the fact that students may offset some of their fifth quarter class tuition costs, by dually enrolling in both ELCP and fifth quarter.

“The [fifth quarter] is all based on tuition, and the families have to pay … $150 per class,” Flynn said. “If a student is willing to dually enroll, they can get a tuition waiver for one class. There is a limited amount of money we can allocate for that, but we try to help out.”

Flynn said he hoped the program could involve the students’ parents more in the coming years. He said the program’s first game night in early June, held at and to benefit the Wareham Free Library, was fairly well-attended by community members and their children. He also said he was thinking about having parents come in to the program’s cooking class to work with the students.

“They could share their favorite recipes, or teach a lesson,” Flynn said. “It would get them involved in things that are meaningful. With the parents, we would have a lot of people on board, and a lot of support for the kids, the community, and the school.”

Flynn said the program is still accepting applications.