Muskegon – The Muskegon Maritime Academy(MMA) will hold its first summer reading and math program from July 12th through August 5th at Muskegon Community College in room 2324 at the James L. Stevenson Center Building, down on the 2nd level.

The program is open to all enrolled 3rd through 5th grade MMA Students and is free of charge.

One of the goals of the summer reading and math program is to identify areas where students may need improvement. According to the State of Michigan, 61% of Muskegon County 3rd graders are reading below grade level.

Muskegon Maritime Academy founder Franklin A. Fudail says they will do a partial SWOT analysis of the participants. “We will identify areas where they are strong and look for areas where improvement is needed. We will also look for opportunities to enhance their skills if they are at the level they should be”, says Fudail. He said the environment will be very relaxed with a lot of individual attention given to each student.

The math portion of the program will be lead by a teacher from the reading and math program he operated for over a decade. “I have my math teacher from my old after-school program. She is one of the best math teachers I have ever witnessed. Any student that works with her for a month will be better a math student”, states Fudail.

According to Fudail, this summer program is just a precursor to how MMA will run its school. He said every summer there will be academic enrichment programs at the school. ” We’re not shutting down a school building in the summer. The summer months are the best time to help kids who may need extra help and to help advance a student who may be excelling”.

He said this program is not mandatory, but he encourages parents to take advantage of the opportunity. “When I ran my afterschool program I made the summer months optional, but I never had an issue with kids showing up. They enjoyed the culture of the program. The positive and encouraging environment. I told parents and the students what they do most, they will do best. If they play basketball all summer they probably will be good at basketball, but the same remains true for reading and math. If they come in 2-3 times a week over the summer and work on academics they will be better students. Schools, Parents, and students must approach education differently if we expect different results”.

Parents with 3rd-5th grade children enrolled at Muskegon Maritime Academy for the 2022-23 school year may sign up by simply emailing enroll@muskegonmaritimeacademy.org. If you have not enrolled, you can do so at www.MuskegonMaritimeAcademy.org.

The program will run Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 pm to 2 pm.