Salisbury Academy

Fueling student passions while providing parents with opportunities for their children in the hours outside school, Salisbury Academy launched enrichment programming this year.

A mix of the arts, STEM, and other areas of interest, enrichment offerings at the school change each semester, are offered by age group, and are led by area experts.

This semester, Salisbury Academy’s younger students are delving into theater, song and dance through a Little Performers class and exploring Lego robotics through BrickEd classes in the makerspace. Older students have an opportunity to learn nonverbal expression through an American Sign Language class.

“The hours outside of school provide a wealth of opportunities for students to develop their existing interests and experiment with new areas,” said enrichment programming director Melody Lee. “Through enrichment programming, we’re complementing students’ school-day experiences while nurturing their curiosities.”

Some enrichment classes take place in the main campus building with others are held at the school makerspace known as the Spark Center. On Thursday afternoons, BrickEd students can be found building Lego robots, programming them, and testing them through various challenges.

“What’s especially exciting about this class is how it builds on itself,” said Lee.

Students who completed BrickEd in the first semester are moving onto EV3 robotics and more extensive coding, and the group that is just beginning this semester is laying foundations by working with WeDo 2.0 early coding and robotics programming, Lee said.

“As the students’ passions develop, we grow with them,” she said.

As part of last semester’s offerings, students in first through fourth grades developed their singing and performance skills in a Broadway Beginnings class. The class culminated with an evening performance at Trinity Oaks.

Caroline Stephenson, instructor for Broadway Beginnings and this semester’s Little Performers class, said the children made wonderful progress over the course of the semester.

“(They) were able to take the vocal and performance skills learned during the school day to the next level,” Stephenson said. “It was incredible to see how much joy it brought them and how the students grew in confidence.”

Topics being explored for future Salisbury Academy enrichment offerings include mixed-media arts, yoga, woodworking, and babysitting and first aid.

“The sky is the limit with this. If the school community can dream it, we’ll do our best to make those programs available to them,” said Lee.