Crete-Monee Spotlights Summer School Success with STEM, Arts, and Academic Gains

Article Summary: The Crete-Monee school district’s 2025 summer school program was a major success, serving nearly 500 students with a blend of academic support and hands-on enrichment activities, including robotics, orchestra, and career exploration. District leaders celebrated the program’s growth and highlighted student achievements, from credit recovery at the high school to elementary students showcasing coded Lego projects.

Summer School Program Key Points:

• The program enrolled 224 pre-K through 4th-grade students, 112 middle schoolers, and 328 high school students over two sessions.

• Focus areas included literacy and math interventions, STEM challenges, credit recovery, and enrichment in fine arts and career development.

• New and expanded offerings included an Agriculture 4H Experience, an expanded orchestra and band program at the middle school, and Shark Tank-style projects at the high school.

• Elementary students demonstrated complex projects, including building and coding prosthetic Lego arms.

CRETE — From robotics and rockets to orchestra and career fairs, Crete-Monee School District 201-U’s summer school program provided a dynamic and engaging experience for nearly 500 students, according to a report presented to the Board of Education on Tuesday.

Dr. Ghantel Perkins, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, led the “Good News Report,” celebrating the work of students and the approximately 80 staff members who participated. “I can’t think of a better way to start this school year off than a celebration for what our students were able to accomplish,” Perkins said.

The program was structured across three levels, each with a dedicated coordinator. Lakisha Carter, the new PYP IB Coordinator, oversaw the elementary program, which hosted 224 students. The focus was on literacy and math interventions alongside STEM challenges. A highlight was the “Careers in Motion” program, culminating in a career fair with over 80% parent participation.

Two rising fifth-graders, Gabriella Cooper and Naomi Reed, demonstrated their summer project for the board: prosthetic arms built from Legos that they had coded to move and grasp objects. “Lego did not give them the grabber. They had to do that on their own,” Carter noted with pride.

At the middle school level, coordinator Kristen Shreffler managed a program for 112 students that emphasized STEM-based learning and fine arts enrichment. Students engaged in engineering challenges, coded robots to navigate obstacle courses, and designed and launched model rockets. An expanded orchestra and band program was a key success, with students performing a concert at the end-of-session exhibition. “Every class showed growth,” Shreffler reported, based on pre- and post-testing.

Moira Burke coordinated the high school program, which served 244 students in its first session and 84 in its second. The primary goals were credit recovery to keep students on track for graduation and college and career readiness. A popular highlight was a “Shark Tank”-style project where students developed solutions to societal problems like bullying and water purity. The program also offered expanded online credit retrieval options and community service opportunities at the Crete Township Community Center.

The district also leveraged its “Educator Rising” program, hiring seven high school students aspiring to be teachers to serve as interns during summer school.

Following the presentation, board members praised the program’s success. “Excellent job this summer by everybody. I mean, seriously, what an outstanding opportunity for each one of the students,” said board member William J. Sawallisch Jr.