HOPE worldwide COVID-19 Global Highlights: Saturday SPARK Academy

Saturday SPARK Academies are offering online programming to their young participants, providing trauma-informed, healing arts activities. Our Chicago Skyline SPARK Academy is adapting to the changing times. At the request of students in the program, we moved our programming online! We now meet on the Zoom platform, keeping our established schedule of twice a week and using an adapted version of the Saturday SPARK Academy curriculum for the lessons. It has been a blast!! In our first class held online, students were able to discuss and process personal thoughts and feelings about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted them and their families. We were so grateful to talk to our scholars about how they are coping during this challenging time. The transition to online has been hard for many of our scholars as they have expressed feelings of loneliness and missing their friends. Working with our amazing Dean of Students, Mr. Manning, has proven to be an incredible blessing! After a brainstorming session, we adjusted the time of the program to earlier in the day and have opened the online classes to the ENTIRE 4th through 8th grade classes at our school! Wow! It is inspiring to see how God has moved by allowing us to further His reach through us to our scholars during this pandemic. He is constantly pursuing our hearts with His unending love. We are excited and humbled to begin to navigate this uncharted territory. To God be all the glory!

Visit hopeww.org/ssa-toolkit or email chapters@hopeww.org if you are interested in transitioning your youth development or Saturday Academy program online.