Our Program

For thirty years the Heads Up program has provided a variety of tuition-free programming to low-income students of color from Oakland public schools. There are two major components to Heads Up, a four-week summer enrichment program and the Saturday Leadership Academy.

Four-Week Summer Enrichment Program (Where Learning is Magical)

Heads Up summers are a thriving, creative, and academically challenging experience for our students. Every year, for six weeks, Heads Up students are on the Head-Royce campus as part of our summer programming. Every day, students rotate through four academic classes: Math, Science, Humanities, and Success is Now. These courses are common-core aligned and are designed to provide academic preview and review. The curriculum emphasizes project-based learning and infused with educational technology that gives students access to iPads, Chromebooks, and Google Suite for Education. All academic courses are taught by veteran instructors who teach in Bay Area schools.

Additionally, students are able to choose from several enrichment offerings including: Theatre, Coding, Martial Arts, Yoga, Basketball, Digital Photography, Food Revolution, Hip-Hop Dance, Racquet-Club (Tennis), Spoken Word, Soul Sister Wisdom, My Brother’s Keeper, African Drumming, Painting, Bookmaking, Theatre, and Music Production & DJing. These courses are taught by professional artists, trained chefs, and experienced professionals.

Heads Up also hires fourteen passionate and energetic counselors, many of them Heads Up alums, to serve as classroom support and mentors to students.

School Year Programming

Saturday Leadership Academy
Each year we gather 3–4 times a year to build community, our Saturday programming ranges from day-long workshops, to service projects and field trips.

Academic Tutoring (Coming Soon!)
Heads Up is exploring expanding our current model to provide academic tutoring for students. Stay tuned for more updates!

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