“We believe that helping a community thrive begins with a local focused investment in children and their families, and there is no better place for consistent connections than school.”
A family, school, and community partnership that provides equitable access to holistic opportunities, so children are ready to learn and positioned to succeed.
BOOST: BESTER OUT OF SCHOOL TIME
BOOST IS BACK!
Starting September 13, 2021, Bester Community of Hope (BCOH) will be providing a health and wellness centered afterschool program to promote student social and emotional development through fun and engaging experiences. BCOH partners with Bester Elementary and other community partners to bridge community and school relationships as well as strengthen the natural resources within the local community. BOOST will assist students in making positive connections with safe & healthy adults while nurturing students social and emotional development and overall well-being.
BCOH provides BOOST after-school programming at no cost to students or families who attend Bester Elementary School; Monday through Friday. Clubs will rotate every six weeks to ensure that all interested students have the opportunity to participate in student identified subjects.
CYCLE 3: December 6th – January 21st
READY TO REGISTER? Download & print our student registration forms:
*If you are unable to download and print, please contact Amanda to make other arrangements.
Completed forms can be returned to Bester Elementary School, emailed to aboyle@besterhope.org, dropped off at our office located at 356 Mill St. Hagerstown, or mailed. For additional questions, please contact our Community School Coordinator, Amanda Boyle, at 240-513-6370 EXT 6.
WALKING SCHOOL BUS
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help students be ready to learn
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promote safe pedestrian behaviors
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strengthen community connections
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facilitate wellness through physical activity
READY TO REGISTER? Download & print the student participation form:
WSB Student Participation Form
Completed form can be returned to Bester Elementary School, emailed to jbalbuena@besterhope.org, dropped off at our office located at 356 Mill St. Hagerstown, or mailed. For additional questions, please contact our Neighborhood Partnership Coordinator, Joan Balbuena, at 240-513-6370 EXT 1.
“BE WELL” HEALTH INITIATIVE
Bester Community of Hope previously established a school-based health center at Bester Elementary School in 2016 through a grant with The Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The center’s overall goal was to reduce barriers to health care by partnering the Community Free Clinic to provide free medical care and health education to children and their families in the community. As systemic barriers to accessing medical care were addressed and to continue to meet the needs of students and families, the project transitioned its efforts to focus on health promotional activities during the school day and in our BOOST afterschool program. All activities and resources are provided at no cost to students.
Recent activities include: 
- Designed, produced, and mass distributed hand sanitizer to residents, stakeholders, schools, and houses of faith
- Health education sessions provided to all classrooms at Bester Elementary
- Bester Wellness Bags- a bag of supplies including soup, crackers, ginger ale, tissues, education, etc. is sent home with students who leave school ill
- Specialized health education sessions facilitated by content experts for parents and caregivers
- Wellness boxes containing produce, Fitbit’s, masks, and education delivered to students homes during the Covid-19 pandemic
PIPELINE OF COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Bester Community of Hope functions as a conduit of resources from community to school. As a community school initiative, BCOH leverages resources and relationships with community partners into the existing school structure to allow a pathway for organizations to find meaningful ways to contribute to needs identified by school personnel and Bester families.
CLASSROOM MEETINGS
A Social-Emotional curriculum integration
Through a partnership with The Center for the Collaborative Classroom (CCC), Bester Community of Hope has provided Bester Elementary School teachers toolkits to add resources to daily class meetings focused on building kindness, emotional intelligence, communication and social skills. Implementation in other school systems who have utilized this social and emotional learning model have seen dramatic positive outcomes in not only behavioral and disciplinary statistics, but overall academic success. CCC continues to be involved as a consultant helping to continue to refine the work and move the effort forward.