The REACH summer learning program in Hamilton County Schools was a resounding success according to the children and teachers who participated. The program was designed to help children in danger of falling behind academically because of schools closing for COVID-19 in the spring and students missing valuable time learning.

Hamilton County Schools will kick-off the 2020-2021 school year with the district’s third annual Back to School Bash on Saturday, August 8 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the First Horizon Pavilion! This year’s event will be a safe, no-contact drive-thru for families to receive a free backpack with school supplies. The 2020 event is made possible through the generous partnership of the Nehemiah Project, BlueCare Tennessee, State Farm, and United Way.

Hamilton County Schools (HCS) is joining with EPB of Chattanooga and other community partners to ensure all students can access the internet for online learning as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Made possible by support from local private and public partners and by having a community-wide fiber optic network in place, HCS EdConnect powered by EPB is a new initiative that will provide internet services to about 28,500 economically challenged students in Hamilton County Schools in the greater Chattanooga area—at no charge to the family. The formation of this partnership program is the first time a U.S community is definitively bridging the digital divide for education by providing a high-quality broadband solution to all students in need.

Hamilton County Schools is working to safely reopen schools in August for students and staff and provide choices that will fit the needs of families in the community. District administrators understand from concerns parents have shared with us that some are not comfortable with sending children back to school in person at this time. The district has developed an option for these families called “HCS at Home,” which allows parents and children to connect to the school in which the student is enrolled but learn from home. Teachers familiar to the family will connect with the child enrolled in HCS at Home electronically with video lessons and Zoom discussions to keep each child moving forward and learning.

Graduation day is finally here with the first planned for Sequoyah High at Soddy Daisy High’s Stadium this evening. There are another four set for Friday evening and the rest will take place on Saturday.

It is graduation week in Hamilton County Schools and a great week to celebrate scholarships earned by this year’s seniors. Reaching graduation day is an important milestone for high school teens, but it is also a starting point for the rest of a graduate’s life. More 2020 seniors of Hamilton County Schools will have a head start on their next step in college as the class once again significantly increased the amount of scholarship offers received this year. The Class of 2020 had over $121 million in scholarship offers from colleges and universities, which has steadily increased, moving up from $31 million just two years ago. The total scholarship dollars at this point for the Class of 2020 are $121,773,278.60, with scholarship offers still coming in for graduating seniors.

The Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) and the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced Tennessee families are now eligible to receive financial support for their children’s nutritional needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program provides the support that would include $5.70 per child for each day the child qualifies for P-EBT up to $256.50.

Do your children like a challenge and working with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) projects? Register your child today for free Summer STEAM Weekly Design Challenges offered by Hamilton County Schools. Sign up today for the special Zoom internet sessions that will begin on Monday. The design challenges are open to students from kindergarten to eighth-grade.

To celebrate the Class of 2020, Video Features for Hamilton County Schools will highlight a senior from each learning community in May. The spotlight today is on Karissa Luckey, a 2020 senior at Tyner Academy in the Missionary Ridge Learning Community.

CHI Memorial awarded its first scholarship as a partner in the Future Ready Institute at Hixson High to Suhani Patel, a senior in the healthcare program. The scholarship was established by CHI Memorial for a student in the CHI Memorial Institute of Healthcare and Medical Careers at Hixson High. The student had to meet academic criteria, complete an application, and an essay.

Water is an essential element that every living thing needs to survive, and a seventh-grader at Hunter Middle School produced an award-winning video to help conserve the precious resource. Ella Davis, a seventh-grader this past school year at Hunter Middle, won Best in State in the World of 7 Billion contest. Davis took top honors in Tennessee with her video titled “Preserving Clean and Safe Water.” She produced the video as part of a class project for gifted students in Angie Hentz’s class at Hunter Middle.

With another school year ending and summer here, it is time to pick up your favorite book and celebrate reading all summer long. The librarians of Hamilton County Schools have partnered with the Chattanooga Public Library to produce a fun-filled summer reading video to encourage students to keep reading.