Horizons at CDS: a Unique Carolina Day School Program
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Have you heard about Horizons at Carolina Day? Over 78 CDS parents and students have volunteered with us for a total of nearly 3000 hours since we launched our program on campus in 2018. That’s not including the 200+ CDS parents and students that have participated in our various food, book, holiday, and clothing drives. So what is Horizons at Carolina Day anyways?
Horizons at CDS is an enrichment program for under-served children in Asheville. We work with Ira B. Jones and Avery's Creek elementary schools to identify students who would benefit the most from extra academic and social enrichment. Our first summer program in 2018 started with 15 rising 1st graders, and we expand the program by one grade every year as our inaugural class grows up. In Summer 2021, we will serve grades 1-4.
But what does “enrichment program” mean? What do we actually do for the children we serve?
Every Summer, we host a joyful 6-week summer program on Carolina Day’s campus. We hire CDS teachers and educators from throughout the community to work with our students, and we recruit a huge team of volunteers, often CDS parents and students, to help us create an engaging, relationship-based, personalized educational experience for each child in Horizons.
At our summer program, Horizons students receive top notch academic instruction with a 5:1 student-teacher ratio. To help close the hunger gap that exists for many children who depend on Free/Reduced Price Lunch during the school year, we provide 2 meals and snacks daily. Another big part of the Horizons mission is ensuring every student learns to swim--a life-saving skill that helps build positive risk-taking that translates to increased confidence in the classroom. Thanks to our amazing community partnerships, every Horizons student gets swimming lessons through the YMCA all summer long.
But Horizons isn’t just summer school with swimming. We also take our students on field trips to parks, historical sites, museums, and hiking trails. They attend music & dance lessons, and at the end of the summer, they get to show off what they have learned to their parents at our end-of-summer celebration. And of course, they do arts & crafts- what summer is complete without friendship bracelets and tie-dye!
Horizons isn’t just a summer program either. We support our students all year long. To ensure our students are staying on track during the school year, we offer 1:1 and group tutoring sessions. We also conduct school visits and meet with our students’ teachers and administrators. And we still like to have fun during the school year with potlucks, holiday parties, bowling outings, and any other excuse we can think of to reunite with our young scholars and their families! 
We know our students’ success is largely dependent on the well-being of their families. By far, our biggest and most cherished partnership is the one we have with our Horizons parents and guardians. We communicate often with them and do all we can to ensure caregivers feel primed for supporting their children's success.
As we become aware of needs through our various channels of communication, we organize programs or donation drives to address them. At Horizons, we are committed to serving our students and ensuring they have equitable access to the educational and social-emotional support they need to reach their potential. Because we engage our families and the broader community, seek to understand barriers to success, and provide ample resources for learning and growth, our students grab the opportunities to expand, shine, and thrive!
Horizons at CDS receives generous in-kind support from Carolina Day School. Our program is 100% donation-funded. Donations to Horizons at CDS help expand our program each year and support the children from public schools enrolled in our enrichment program.
Our mission: To improve the life trajectory of children facing inequity in Asheville by increasing their opportunities to fall in love with learning, develop the skills necessary to succeed in and out of the classroom, and build the confidence to achieve their dreams.