Aspire Afterschool Learning

Aspire is so grateful for our amazing Board of Directors! They had their first meeting of the fiscal year earlier this week, and these dedicated community members are a source of great support, insight, advice, and advocacy for Aspire.

Aspire’s team visited the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) today for our 9/11 Day of Service. Everyone had a great time packing and distributing food, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to give back to the Arlington community through this incredible organization.

In addition to students' progress last year with their test scores, we’re also proud of the stories they share about how Aspire builds their confidence. One day, a student walked into his classroom and took tiny, shuffling steps to inch his way toward his seat. "This is how I feel at school," he explained. He felt frustrated by the things he didn't know and was struggling to catch up to his peers. Then, he took a bigger step: "This is how I feel at Aspire." An even bigger step: "This is how I'll feel in high school." A huge step: "This is how I'll feel in college!"

Former students, please join us for an Aspire alumni party on September 19th from 3-5pm! There will be free pizza, lots of fun, and a $25 gift card for any student who participates in the Aspire video. RSVP to [email protected] so we make sure we have enough pizza!

Tickets are on sale for Aspire’s 30th Anniversary Achieving Afterschool Celebration on October 16th! Join us for a fun evening of conversation, raffle prizes, and impactful speakers as we celebrate 30 years of impact with the community members who have helped make that work possible. Get your tickets before October 1st to save with an early bird discount!

Aspire 2024 Achieving Afterschool Celebration Join us as we mark Aspire's 30th anniversary, celebrate our students, and bring together the community members who make our work possible.

A highlight from Aspire’s 2023-2024 program year was the incredible growth of our students' math and reading skills! 67% of students improved their reading level over the course of the year, and 69% improved their math level!

Aspire’s 2023-2024 program year was pivotal for our organization, our students, and the South Arlington community. We served a record number of students, reaching 135 students in our afterschool program and a total of 188 unique students during the summer and school year. This marks 54% growth over the last two years!

Check out the impact summary and full report on our website, and stay tuned here for more details and highlights!

Aspire's 2023-2024 Program Year Results | Aspire Afterschool Aspire’s 2023-2024 program year was pivotal for our organization, our students, and the South Arlington community. We served a record number of students, reaching 135 students in our afterschool program…

As we wrapped up camp, Aspire held an outdoor celebration. This fun event included visitors from the Arlington County Fair, who generously distributed ride tickets to our students. Students also shared what they were grateful for over the summer, including support in the tough times, teachers answering all of their questions, and Aspire making class as fun as possible.

Aspire’s Community Garden had so many cucumbers that we were able to turn some of them into pickles! These hands-on cooking projects were some of the students' favorite parts of camp, and they loved learning new recipes and taste-testing the results.

Aspire students recently ventured into DC for a field trip to the United States Botanic Garden. They dissected a flower, participated in an activity where they were pollinators trying to get the "nectar" out of the bottom of a cup, and went on an expedition to identify different types of plants. A highlight was seeing all the growing foods, like cacao beans and peppers, which reminded students of the Community Garden at Aspire.

Aspire recently had a special visit from Jacobs, an engineering company, and Arlington County. Their volunteers led students through a hands-on STEM project over two days, which included hearing from current Jacobs employees and putting their engineering skills into action. Different groups built electric cars, windmills, (bird) houses, and water filtration systems - and all these projects tied into a larger sustainable city!

Aspire’s full-day, six-week summer camp has come to an end, but we still have a few highlights from the last two weeks to share! One of our students' favorite parts of camp is participating in arts and crafts lessons like creating Clifford the Big Red Dog puppets and designing paper plate dragons based on a book they read.

Aspire’s garden is flourishing! At the end of our summer camp, our students did a first harvest and were very excited about finding cucumbers, peppers, and herbs ready to be eaten. They’ve had so much fun working with their individual garden plots, learning about the importance of healthy eating and environmental stewardship, seeing how the plants have grown over the summer, and eating their hard-earned food!

In a recent social-emotional lesson, students learned a breathing exercise to help them calm down and de-stress. They went for a short nature walk and then found places to sit where they could practice this exercise and meditate.

Our students are out of this world! Their research into the different planets concluded with presentations to their classmates about what the planet is like and some fun facts.

We’re so excited to announce that we’ve been selected to receive a highly competitive Aim High grant! Thank you for helping us support historically underserved students and ensure Arlington’s middle schoolers get to 9th grade on time & ready to thrive. Check out the full press release below and visit our local news site, GazetteLeader.com, for an article about Aspire’s selection. New York Life Insurance Company

New York Life Foundation grants $1.8 million to out-of-school-time programs focused on helping middle school students transition successfully to 9th grade. The Aim High grant initiative is part of New York Life Foundation’s ongoing investment in OST programs to help middle school youth in under-resourced communities reach the 9th grade on time and better prepared for high school.

Teamwork makes the dream work! Aspire students recently worked together on a challenge to build the tallest tower they could from spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. Not only did they practice their teamwork skills, they also learned how these materials impacted what they could build and discussed the impact that their building might have on the environment around it.

Aspire’s summer camp students recently constructed models of the solar system! These clay representations helped students get a better understanding of the location and environments of different planets.

As Aspire’s community garden thrives, we’re making the most of these plants! Students picked herbs and laid them out to dry, and they also took small cuttings of a few herbs to propagate them so that they can take the plants home and create their own mini gardens!

Our students may be young, but they’re already using their voices to advocate for important causes. They recently learned about the dangers of ocean pollution for sea turtles, and were inspired to create advocacy posters that convince people to protect oceans and sea turtles - complete with artwork!

Join us in celebrating ! Summer is an important time to level the playing field through high-quality programs like Aspire that produce measurable benefits in math, reading, and social-emotional learning.

Have you heard that Aspire recently started a Community Garden? Every day during summer camp, a different class walks to the garden to tend their unique plot. Each class is eager for their plot to be the most successful, and we’re happy to report that despite the heat, these plants are thriving under the careful watch of our students, much like our students are thriving because of our community’s support.

The popular Cloud in a Jar activity recently taught students about the water cycle by using water, shaving cream, and food coloring to see how water gathers in clouds and then falls to the ground as rain. Students loved taking turns putting food coloring in the jar and couldn't wait to see when it would start “raining!”

Join our team! Aspire is hiring up to 4 full-time Program Coordinators to support our afterschool and summer programming. This position is ideal for someone with a passion and skill for leading classroom activities, coaching AmeriCorps members and volunteers in classroom management, and building relationships with school partners and parents. Learn more and apply at the link below.

Program Coordinator | Aspire Afterschool Aspire Afterschool Learning is seeking to hire up to four (4) full-time (40-hours/week) Program Coordinators to support our holistic afterschool and summer academic enrichment program for historically underserved 3rd –…

Ready to explore a new interest this summer? Our collage club loves looking through magazines for cool pictures to create new artwork, and highly recommends this craft to others!

Students at Aspire’s summer camp recently created their own mini ecosystem jars! During a visit to the creek, they filled their jars with water and then carefully added things like dirt, leaves, stones, and sticks before sealing them. They’ve been observing the jars since then, and learned a fun lesson about what makes up their local ecosystem!

The weather is hot, but our students are making friends, creating art, and learning new skills!

Aspire is so grateful for Amazon’s generous support! We’re excited to announce that Amazon is one of our funding partners, and their donation will make a big impact in the lives of the 130+ students we serve.

Aspire’s summer camp kicked off today, and our students loved getting right into the swing of things by learning about sea turtle conservation, creating mini ecosystems inside of jars, and reading fun books!

Students celebrated their final week of school by breaking ground on our community garden last week! They created raised beds, tilled soil, and planted flowers and vegetables for a garden where they’ll learn about environmental stewardship over the summer. One student shared that it was his first time ever planting anything, and he was so excited to watch the garden grow!