Energy Express

Energy Express is an eight week summer service opportunity that makes a difference in the lives of children living in West Virginia. Children living in rural and low-income communities often fall behind academically during the summer months, starting each school year behind where they were the previous spring. Successive summers of limited learning opportunities may cause children to fall below grade level by the end of elementary school. Many of these children also suffer nutritionally. Energy Express promotes children's school success by providing summer learning experiences focused on reading and eating two nutritious meals served family-style. The program works! Evaluation results show that most children enrolled in Energy Express either maintain or increase their reading skills. Each site is composed of team of 5 to 8 college-student mentors and a community coordinator supervised by a site supervisor who is usually an elementary teacher. Youth and adult volunteers support the program.