Chappaqua Summer Scholarship Program Opens Host Family Opportunties

From Chappaqua School District: Could you open your heart and home to a promising high school student for ten days this July? The Chappaqua Summer Scholarship Program (CSSP), founded in 1968, is an academic enrichment program that brings 22-24 talented students from two high schools in the Bronx to live with host families in our community. The 2017 CSSP program runs July 2 to July 28, with graduation taking place on Sunday, July 30.

CSSP students are recommended for the program by their guidance counselors and then interviewed and chosen by members of CSSP's board.

During the program, our students attend classes at Horace Greeley High School in the mornings and are exposed to enrichment, cultural, and community activities in the afternoons and a few evenings. Past activities include Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival performances, film screenings, museum and college visits, a community service project, swimming and tennis lessons, and our very popular softball game!

The students, who begin the program as rising sophomores, attend the program for three consecutive summers. During junior and senior year of high school, CSSP offers our students college counseling, SAT prep, essay review, and on going support during the college application process. After graduation from CSSP, the program offers our now-college- students a book stipend and assistance securing internships.

One of the primary new exposures a student gets is living with two different Chappaqua host families each year and learning different perspectives and cultures. Host families who have participated in past summers often report being impressed with the students intense interest in education and in having new experiences. Many of our host families participate year after year and find that they gain as much from their experience as the students do!

There is always a need for new host families. Our host families range from empty nesters to families with all ages of children in their homes. CSSP students demonstrate personal qualities that younger children could look up to and see as role models. Families often build long-term relationships with our students that last for years.

The host family commitment is for a two-week period in the first or second half of July (Session 1 is July 2-14; Session 2 is July 16-28), although it is really ten nights since the students go home to the Bronx Friday afternoon and return by train to Chappaqua Sunday evening. Students are transported by Chappaqua Transportation each morning to the high school, where they take three academic courses, and are typically picked up by their host family locally in the late afternoon (at HGHS, Bell or at the Saw Mill Swim Club). Through our partnership with the Jacob Burns Film Center, the students attend a program there on Fridays and leave for home from the Pleasantville train station.

Please visit our website: www.chappaquasummerscholarship... and our Facebook page: CSSP. For further information please contact Ellen Adnopoz: eadnopoz@gmail.com or Nancy Silver: silver.nancy23@gmail.com.

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