A week before the Summer Scholars tenth anniversary gala, the Board of Education yesterday officially recognized the decade of work the organization has provided Denver students.

Summer Scholars is a community-based program for northeast Denver elementary students who are below grade level in reading. The program began in 1993 with 20 students in one school and has grown to 1,200 students in 20 schools.

The Board praised the summer reading program, highlighting in a formal resolution that each year pre- and post-reading tests are administered to measure the program’s effectiveness, and an average of 78 percent of students making demonstrable gains in reading after participating in Summer Scholars.

The program became a neighborhood response to the dramatic increase in teenage crime and Denver’s 1993 Summer of Violence. Since then, almost 10,000 students have participated in the six-week, full-day summer program.

Summer Scholars currently works in partnership with Ashley, Barrett, Columbine, Ebert, Garden Place, Gilpin, Hallett, Harrington, Moore, Montclair, Palmer, Park Hill, Philips, Smith, Stedman, Swansea, Whittier and Wyman elementary schools and Pioneer and Wyatt Edison charter schools.

Tenth Anniversary Gala Friday, Oct. 24
The Summer Scholars tenth anniversary gala is planned for 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24 at the Renaissance Denver Hotel, 3801 Quebec St. Board President Elaine Gantz Berman and her husband Steve Berman will be honored that evening with the “Advocates for Children” award. Summer Scholars students from Gilpin Elementary School will be performing, and 17 outstanding students from the 2003 program will be honored.

Tables of 10 at the gala are $1,000. To purchase a table or place an ad in the event program, contact Anne Byrne, executive director, Summer Scholars, 303-355-0290.