Announcing Horizons’ Partnership With The Bishop Walker School For Boys

9/1/2022

At Horizons, our students are provided with access to committed teachers and a transformative summer learning experience that improves their readiness for the school year, balances academics, social and emotional learning, and provides the tools they need to thrive and to pursue their dreams.

The past two summers, we have seen enormous demand for our program, including a waitlist of eligible students. We know we need to do more to meet the demand for our program and bring greater equity and opportunities to more students in this region. This summer, we will welcome our largest enrollment yet with 430 students enrolled across our three sites (an increase of 11% over the prior summer) to meet the overwhelming demand and need of the community.

In addition to increasing the number of students we are serving, we are also introducing new feeder school partners to open up access to Horizons for more students who live and go to school East of the River through an innovative partnership with the Bishop Walker School for Boys, a tuition-free independent school serving 81 scholars in K-5th grade.

As Mike Molina, Head of School for Bishop Walker School for Boys, describes:

Partnering with Horizons is an opportunity to serve our scholars and to set the stage for greater service to the community around us. Southeast DC needs more academically-grounded summer opportunities like Horizons for its young people, and the long-term commitment Horizons makes is both culturally responsive and needed in this community. We want our scholars to be trailblazers with Horizons.

Through the newly established partnership, Horizons will serve 30 BWS scholars this summer with a concentration on rising 2nd and 3rd graders, while we focus on raising the funds and support to eventually host a program at the Bishop Walker School in Ward 8.

Thanks to Horizons’ partnership with St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School, the additional scholars will be incorporated into the classrooms at our St. Patrick's site. St. Patrick's is providing extra classrooms for these students and we have hired additional teachers and staff to accommodate our proven small groups learning.

As Jalene Spain Thomas, Head of School at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School explains:

St. Patrick’s high esteem for fellow Episcopal School BWS is longstanding. Our belief in Horizons’ dynamic enrichment programs to advance educational equity is unwavering the intersection of the partnership between our three institutions supports St. Patrick’s mission to recognize the infinite value of every individual. We are incredibly pleased that BWS scholars will join the Horizons site at St. Patrick’s this summer.

We are looking forward to working in partnership with the Bishop Walker School for the Boys and St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School to expand our reach and to provide all of our scholars with an impactful and meaningful learning experience this summer.

If you would like to support this partnership, you can do so by clicking here.

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