NASA ACCP Partner Yuma School District: One Migrant Education Program Impacts Arizona Hispanic Youth

Beginning June 6, 2011 through July 16, 2021, Yuma School District held four weeks of virtual camp sessions, serving 595 Hispanic students. Yuma School District is located in Yuma, Arizona and is a NASA ASTRO CAMP® Collaborative Program, (ACCP) partner and a One Migration Education Program.

Arizona Migrant Education Program (MEP) is a federally funded, state-operated program, reauthorized under Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Title I, Part C. The program’s mission is to impact teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms, contributing to migratory students’ high academic success. This program provides supplemental services to students of Migratory Workers from the ages of three through twenty-one, and provides funding and support to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs). The program provides numerous services such as adult education, family outreach, in-home support services, language and cultural training, STEM/STEAM programs, Out-of-School Youth intervention, preschool programming, student leadership opportunities, summer and extended day programming, as well as its newest service NASA ASTRO CAMP® Collaborative programs virtual camps.

During the first year, NASA ACCP partners rocked various lessons from the NASA ASTRO CAMP® curriculum, activities, and virtual field trips. The students launched a variety of activities focusing on topics such as Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, Planetary Science, and Moon to Mars. To demonstrate and spotlight the students’ successes and educational experiences, the Yuma facilitators have created a short video featuring students’ efforts.