The summer is almost here but that doesn’t mean school stops for everyone. Park offers various activities for when school is out, both educational and recreational. 

Patrice Howard, Director of Community Education, said summer school includes a wide variety of things for kids to do and the department continues to look for input on activities.

“We have some programs and opportunities for high schoolers, including academic programs like credit recovery, but there’s also an opportunity for our youth development committee,” Howard said. “If we have young people who are interested in something particular, now’s the time to let us know and we’re willing to partner with our young people to plan more activities this summer.”

According to Howard, credit recovery is something a lot of high schoolers will be focusing on. Sophomore Katie Buan Della said credit recovery is a special idea that benefits everyone. 

“It’s a great thing because COVID(-19) impacted a lot of people and this can be an opportunity for them to make up stuff,” Buan Della said.

Howard said summer school is aimed to help make graduating easier and more achievable for underclassmen if they’re behind. 

“Credit recovery is more so for students who are behind in credits and they need additional credits for the purpose of graduation,” Howard said. 

The events over summer also offer job opportunities for grades 9-12, according to Howard. 

“We have summer jobs and employment opportunities for as early as 14 years old. If we have young people who are students at (Park) who are interested in summer employment they can work with us,” Howard said. “We’d love to have graduating seniors work with us because when they’re 18, they can earn a higher wage and take on more responsibility.” 

Youth Enrichment Manager Darrell Young said credit recovery will focus on core classes, but that they are working to include more electives.

“We went with the core classes because we were trying to put something together and we want to put more thought into it for next year,” Young said.

Aside from credit recovery Park will offer interesting and new activities for all ages. Howard said the Parks and Recreation center will be working with her office to host some entertaining nights. 

“We’re partnering with St. Louis Park Parks and Rec and we’ll be having a few different movies in the park. We have a couple of swim nights with (Park) and we are also partnering with Parks and Rec to jointly host Juneteenth this Sunday and the Rec Center which we’re really excited about.”

Upcoming events include Community Swim Night at SLP Aquatic parks and Juneteenth. Both events are free of charge and open to anyone.