BRIGHT LIGHTS INC

Bright Lights also welcomes some 65 students in grades 6-8 from Senshu Middle School in Japan who come each year.  American students join them in 8-10 different classes at Lux Middle scholl.  This is both a friend raiser and a fund raiser.  We have done this since 2002.

Each classroom is staffed with two assistants, typically high school students who have aged out of their student involvement in Bright Lights. This allows us to maintain small class sizes with a 1:7 staff to student ratio. The classes offered are a combination of new classes along with past favorites and represent a range of interests and topics. The curriculum is created by the teachers and is based on their passions and interests.

Health and safety initiatives are essential to the continued reliability of Bright Lights as a leading summer program in the community. From registration through the end of the summer program we strive to address health, safety, and confidentiality.

Bright Lights provides safe and secure environments for all students and staff. Positive behavior (non-violence, cooperation, teamwork, understanding and acceptance of others) is encouraged in the program and is required of all staff. A Bright Lights Safety Committee meets annually, and members make onsite visits to observe and make recommendations for improvement where it is needed.

A retired school psychologist screens families who have health or behavior needs based on parent-indicated issues on health forms. A nurse is at the main program site every day. On the first day of class she seeks out each identified classroom and student, meets the student, and welcomes them to the health office. The nurse’s objective is to see each student’s face and know where his/her classroom is located. Both the nurse and psychologist receive ongoing professional training in school health areas.

Bright Lights offers summer classes that provide broad-range learning outside of conventional teaching methods. This non-traditional approach not only engages students but also prevents a loss of learned information and learning skills. Longitudinal studies by the Rand Corporation indicate that the effects of summer learning programs endure for at least two years after participation.

Bright Lights’ summer learning opportunities ensure that students develop complex skills, including how to make decisions, solve real-world problems, build relationships with adults and peers, and test out their own leadership and teamwork capabilities as they experience STEM learning across different environments.

2016 saw us launch a partnership with Lincoln Public Schools and the Federal Migrant Education Program. Bright Lights provides these students with a variety of half-day classroom experiences to augment the LPS offerings. This program helps ensure that migratory children who move among the states are not penalized in any manner by disparities among states in curriculum, graduation requirements, or state academic content and student academic achievement standards. The goal of the Migrant Education Program is to ensure that all migrant students reach challenging academic standards and graduate with a high school diploma (or complete a GED) that prepares them for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment.