BranchOut! At the Howard County Public School System

This summer, BranchOut! students were hard at work, giving back to the community in Howard County, Maryland. Student were invited back to assist with three summer programs within the Howard County Public School System, including the Black Student Achievement Program, HCPSS 2022 MS Math Advancement Summer Tutoring Program, and STARTALK Chinese Language Summer Camp. As the summer comes to an end, we would like to recognize all the hard work and contribution made by BranchOut! mentors.

BranchOut! has been partnered with Black Student Achievement Program (BSAP) for the past few years, and students returned this year to contribute to the Summer Institute. The program was available at two different locations: Phelps Luck Elementary School and Howard High School and offers acceleration and enrichment opportunities for HCPSS students entering Grades K-9. Students participate in academic courses (reading/English, math, science, social studies) each morning, and in a wide range of enrichment opportunities in the afternoon (including journalism, engineering, martial arts, and more).

Our second program was MS Math Advancement Summer Tutoring Program at Oakland Mills Middle School. This program offers math acceleration and enrichment opportunities for HCPSS middle school students. Students participate in mathematical courses each morning, and in a wide range of enrichment opportunities in the afternoon. During the program, BranchOut students mentored students to enhance student ability in mathematics courses and skills.

Last but not least, BranchOut students helped out at STARTALK Chinese Language Summer Camp at Harper's Choice Middle School. This program offers Chinese language proficiency development with a focus on speaking for novice level learners and the addition of reading and writing for intermediate level learners for HCPSS students entering Grades 7-8. The language instruction program will be complemented with a wide range of Chinese culture-themed activities such as arts and crafts, martial arts, virtual field trips, and games.

We want to thank our BranchOut! mentors for their dedication and contribution to making our experience a successful and meaningful one.

BSAP Summer Institute:

Advisor: Ms. Rui Xu

Team Leads: Alex Cui, Joshua Soong

BranchOut! Mentors: Kenneth Wang, Carlton Luu, Alice Chen, David Liu, Jonathan Li, Julia Huang, Lanting Zhu, Alexandra Liu, Jeffrey Xu, Ray Chen

MS Math Advancement Summer Program:

Advisor: Ms. Jing Tang

Team Leads: Ximing Luo, Aaron Zhong

Mentors: Aiden Zhang, Kenneth Wang, Benjamin Wang, Eric Duan, David Liu, Carlton Luu, Ella Jiao, Julia Chen

STARTALK Chinese Language Summer Camp:

Advisor: Dr. Hui Guo

Team Lead: William Li

Mentors: Austin Zhang, Ethan Gao, Alex Liu, Nathan Wang