MILWAUKEE — It's the SHARP Literacy summer program, combining math, science, and sports. The official program title is the STEAM dream team. Steam stands for science, technology, engineering and math. So combining your love for something, along with learning and finding out that there are many paths to success, is not usually a bad thing.
"They're learning all about baseball," SHARP Literacy President and CEO Lynda Kohler says. "They're learning about the analytics. The math behind it. The science behind it."
And this is focused on dream team baseball.
"Running, they get timed," Kohler says. "Batting, we have the tracker on the bottom of the bat. How fast they bat. And they're going to take all of these statistics and create their own baseball card."
These kids learn at an early age that being involved in sports might not just be on the field.
"You're running to first base, is this time," Kohler says. "Let's see what a professional baseball player, what their time is so they're like 'oh I'm not that far off.' Or 'oh boy, I've got some work to do.'"
Plus, bridging the gap of what's been lost over the summer and pandemic.
"The COVID slide, combined with the summer slide," Kohler says. "You know, the summer slide. The kids that, when they finish school at the end of the school year and start again, they can lose anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks of what they've learned. So keeping them active. Their mind, their body active over the summer."
