Community Engagement

The Community Basketball and Enrichment Camp (CBE) offers a four-week summer program for rising 3-9 grade students, combining basketball and classroom instruction. The basketball portion focuses on skill-building, teamwork, and sportsmanship, and offers students from different schools the opportunity to play ball together. CBE’s experienced teacher-coaches reinforce the fundamentals of reading, writing, and math—providing a full day of physical and mental wellness, friendship, and activity. 

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For 26 years, GFS has partnered with Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia, an organization that offers academic enrichment opportunities and college preparation for students from public and charter schools. Earlier this year, in alignment with the GFS strategic vision priority of Learning in Community, the two organizations deepened their relationship by appointing GFS to administer Breakthrough’s academic program--in addition to providing volunteers and learning space, and naming a new director, Michelle Palmer, from within the GFS community. Under Palmer’s leadership, the program faculty and student teaching fellows are able to intentionally incorporate GFS campus resources and community.  

Breakthrough also supports up-and-coming teachers, providing hands-on opportunities to learn alongside seasoned educators through a “Students-Teaching-Students” model? Classrooms are led by teaching fellows, college students recruited through a competitive nationwide search, supervised by master teachers—instructional coaches—drawn from GFS and other area schools. Students, teaching fellows, instructional coaches, and staff are able to learn from one another in a collaborative environment. This structure exposes students to the field of education as a possible career and provides an opportunity for novice teachers to grow and thrive.