SUMMER LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

Boys & Girls Clubs of Waltham, Watertown & Newton | Grades 9–12 | Out-of-School Time
2026 National Summer Learning Award Finalist, National Summer Learning Association

Much of a young person's learning doesn't happen in a classroom at all. It happens in the hours before and after school, on weekends, over the summer, in the spaces where kids have room to explore without a bell schedule or a test at the end. For students with the fewest opportunities, those hours matter enormously. WPS set out to see what happens when that time is used with real intention. Now in its third year, and its second in partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of Waltham, Watertown, and Newton, the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) asks, What would it look like for a teenager to leave the summer with a new vision of themselves, and the skills and relationships to pursue their ambitions and shape their community?

The experience:
During the SLI, students move out of their Clubs and into the world. They explore their own sense of purpose at Bentley University, study food justice and environmental systems at Eastie Farm, tackle medical design challenges at Boston Children's Hospital, run hands-on fieldwork with the Charles River Watershed Association, and get an inside look at sports and event careers at TD Garden.

The program's community impact work, where students partnered with local organizations on real challenges, has evolved each year. In 2026, that work grew into a brand-new culminating project: AI Literacy Week, presented in collaboration with Crafting Tomorrow. Structured as a pre-internship, students partnered directly with local businesses and community organizations to take on a real challenge each one was facing, then learned how to leverage AI tools to research, design, and build a solution. The experience ended with students pitching their work to the actual clients they'd been solving for, at a final showcase judged by the same local partners who'd posed the original problem.

What changed, by WPS's measures of impact:

1 / Empowered Learners

At school, only 45% of students said they take the lead on their own learning. At SLI, 95% did, a reminder of what's possible when out-of-school time is designed with intention.

2 / Engaged Communities

At school, only 35% of students report that learning regularly connects to life outside the classroom. After the SLI, that number jumped to 95%. Across the program, students partnered with organizations throughout Greater Boston, including MIT, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston Children's Hospital, and dozens of local businesses and nonprofits who hosted learning immersions, provided mentoring, or took part in the AI Literacy Week design challenge.

3 / Boundless Futures

At school, 45% of students say they feel they’re becoming someone who could create positive change in the world. After the SLI, 95% did.

95%

"Before the program, I often felt that making a meaningful impact required a certain level of experience, authority, or resources. But through SLI, I learned that leadership isn't about having all the answers, it's about asking the right questions and taking initiative with what you do have." – SLI student participant

The impact reached beyond students, too. Participating Club staff reported that SLI increased their own capacity to support youth leadership, purpose, and community connection. That growth didn't stop when the summer ended: two of the collaborating Clubs are now working with WPS to design new teen programming for the school year, extending what started as a summer pilot into a year-round partnership.