After spending the last several weeks learning — and playing — at Sister Lakes Elementary School, the students participating in this year’s 2016 Summer Migrant Program will have the chance to stretch their legs a little and hit the city.

The Windy City, that is.

On Tuesday, the participants in this year’s summer school program will pack the inside of a charter bus and head out to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. While there, the students will be split into several different groups to enjoy several special learning experiences, including the chance to explore a submarine employed during World War II or the opportunity to explore a former coal mine.

The field trip is the largest and most elaborate one that educators with the longtime education program have ever provided students, said Jerry Rodriguez, the coordinator of the summer migrant program.

“We wanted to jazz it [the trip] up a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “We have gotten into a bit of a pattern the last few years, so we wanted to make this trip something the kids will be looking forward to.”

That is not to say the around 130 students enrolled in this year’s program have been cooped up inside a classroom all summer, though.

While some of the younger participants visited the Curious Kids museum in St. Joseph during the program, a group of middle school children got the opportunity to write and read a radio advertisement during a visit to the Mid-West Family Broadcasting studio in Benton Harbor. Meanwhile, high school students had the opportunity to tour Southwestern Michigan College and Western Michigan University to help them prepare for what happens after graduating high school.

“This is also their summer, so we build some fun things into the schedule so these kids are not just getting academics 12 months of the year,” said Kara Cox, who serves as the counselor and high school facilitator with the program. “We want to show them that learning can also be fun.”

A program that has been organized by the district since the 1970s, the Migrant Summer Program has long been a way for local educators to provide ongoing education to children of migrant workers who live in the Dowagiac area during
the season.

While originally intended to help children fill in the gaps of their reading, math and science education due to the constant traveling between schools, the federally-funded program increasingly allows educators to focus more on enrichment than just plain education.

Many of the students who participate in the program return every year, forming a bond with the staff — and with each other. Rodriguez can personally testify to the strengths of the summer school program, as he had participated in it from fifth-grade through high school, he said.

“It is an honor for me to be an inspiration and to be there for these kids the same way others were there for me when I was growing up,” Rodriguez said.

Many of the staff members with the program also share a strong connection with the program, with some such as Cox, having served for 10 years or more spending their summers working with the students.

“There is just something about it, where once you are a part of it, you are a part of it,” Cox said.