A Two-Week Summer Program
This program represents a five-year commitment to work with one hundred twenty-five students from the eighth grade to the twelfth grade.
Students attend a two-week summer program aimed at sharpening their Math and Language Arts skills. We also augment this program with other programs. In the second year, our partner First Foundation Bank teaches a course in financial literacy, and in the third year, students attend the FGCU/Sigma Pi Phi Epsilon Nu Boule Summer STEM Camp experience. Each year we add twenty-five, additional eighth-grade students, to the program.
Next year on May 29th of 2021 the Raising The Bar Program will graduate our second set of students from various High Schools.
The RTB Program collaborates with the Emerson Academy, Collier County Government with an Internship, National Flight Academy, ACTSO and other once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Each summer the student(s) will have a different experience.
Our joint venture partner is First Foundation Bank of Collier County.
Program Site
Raising The Bar took place as an eLearning this summer. Canvas was the platform that was used under the direction of Hannah Fekade, M.Ed Western Governors University, an Educational Technology Specialist. She created each teacher their own page (eLearning classrooms) to instruct students. Teachers used daily videos as a vehicle to go over the learning objectives, followed with whole class instruction conducted in ZOOM, and concluded with Office Hours to work one-to-one to provide educational accommodations to those who may need it. The program had two interns who sent daily emails and phone calls to ensure that students were where they needed to be. Diann Keeys secured laptops with CCPS in order to ensure that all students had access with technology to complete the program successfully.
Program Director
Dr. Juniace S Etienne was the program director for Summer 2020. She is a native of Miragoane, Haiti, who migrated to the United States at the age of 16, Dr. Etienne is a teacher and an author. She knows firsthand that education can expand one’s opportunities to succeed. Her passion is to empower and stimulate intellectual curiosity in her students.
She is currently a French professor at Barron High School and Florida Southwestern College. She was nominated Teacher of Distinction this year. Dr. Etienne works with children at all academic skill levels; from those with special needs to those who are academically gifted. She is also a curriculum writer for the French program. Dr. Etienne graduated Summa Cum Laude from Barry University, received her master’s degree in Reading from Nova Southern University, and earned her doctoral degree in Teacher Leadership from Walden University. Graduate level course in Romance World Language from University of New Orleans, Oregon University and Universite de Notre Dame de L’ouest in Angers, France.
She is certified in Exceptional Student Education (ESE), k-12 World Language French Endorsement in English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), READING, and GIFTED.
Dr. Etienne completed the process of recruiting, interviewing, and hiring teachers for the program. Two weeks prior to the beginning of the program and during the program, Dr. Etienne worked with two interns to ensure all the logistics to run the program were in place. For example, emailing and telephoning parents and students, securing guest speakers who can bring information resources to the students. She conducted daily meetings with teachers and weekly debriefings.
2020 Raising The Bar Graduates
Congratulations Sade Bassan
Congratulations Erick Acosta
