{"id":725848,"date":"2026-04-13T21:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/725848\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:40:13","slug":"community-group-helps-student-readers-at-cabrillo-elementary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/725848\/","title":{"rendered":"Community group helps student readers at Cabrillo Elementary"},"content":{"rendered":"

POINT LOMA \u2013 A collaborative program between Point Loma Assembly<\/a> and Cabrillo Elementary School<\/a> is delivering on community philanthropy by funding youth education.<\/p>\n

Assembly and Cabrillo Collaborating for Student Success, or ACCESS<\/a>, is the name of the joint program funding Cabrillo Elementary\u00a0programs. <\/p>\n

The program, which includes purchasing classroom supplies, also funded the recently completed renovation of the school\u2019s Reading Room. <\/p>\n

ACCESS began with a \u201cbus driver\u201d campaign, where members paid for\u00a0buses for students to attend\u00a0art classes at Liberty Station. It has since expanded to include reading and math\u00a0support and\u00a0other enrichment for Cabrillo students.<\/p>\n

Under the ACCESS program, Cabrillo Elementary\u2019s staid Reading Room, which was part storeroom and part library, has been rejuvenated. It has been transformed into an inviting space featuring gorgeous colors and travel posters, along with expanded comfortable places to sit with organized places for books and supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ACCESS program was thought up three or four years ago to help the students at Cabrillo Elementary,\u201d said Point Loma Assembly president Pam Fuchs, who conducted a tour of the new revitalized school space.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a Title 1<\/a> school (using federal funds supporting programs for struggling, low-income, and underrepresented students), with a lot of military kids that move around a lot, that needed improvement. So, to do something directly for the children, we formed the ACCESS Committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuchs noted ACCESS\u2019 premier program, Everyone a Reader, which the enhanced Reading Room is benefiting, involves volunteers supporting literacy, donating one hour weekly to help struggling readers. Volunteers also help individual students in the classroom as teachers present math instruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cVolunteers meet with struggling readers and coach them all year long, and the results have been marvelous,\u201d said Fuchs. \u201cAnd we have a math program where there are some tutors who go into first through third grades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuchs added that ACCESS funding also supports sending students to regularly attend arts classes in Liberty Station, noting that students also interact with artists that are in residence at Liberty Station. <\/p>\n

Funding student field trips is another item that is high on the ACCESS program priority list.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere there is an opportunity for a community field trip, there is never any money for buses,\u201d pointed out Fuchs. \u201cWe have raised money so that all the students in the school could go to Junior Theatre, the Birch Aquarium, and the Natural History Museum this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the last three years, Fuchs noted the Assembly \u201chas given $45,000 toward the Liberty School, and at least $15,000 for projects within the school, as well as raising $5,000 for buses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberty School, founded by the Arts District Liberty Station in 2007, aims to support and inspire local school-aged children who face socio-economic challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a K-4 school where each grade gets a chance to come in with their classmates to select a book and relax, having quiet reading time,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes the teachers will have programs in here because it\u2019s a different environment than the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funding for Cabrillo Elementary\u2019s new and improved Reading Room is an ongoing ACCESS program. \u201cThere will always be financial support as long as we have a project here,\u201d Fuchs said.<\/p>\n

ACCESS accomplishments<\/p>\n

The bus driver fund of Assembly and Cabrillo Collaborating for Student Success program has enabled students to do a host of activities including: <\/p>\n