Summer Offers Head Start for Some Incoming Port Chester HS Students

In preparation for their move up, a number of Port Chester High School's incoming ninth-graders are participating in the school's Jump Start Program this summer. It's a four-week introduction to the skills, strategies, and knowledge required to be successful at the next level.

The Jump Start Program is funded through the district's 21st Century Grant, which in addition to providing summer transition programs makes available after-school programs during the school year, including tutoring, enrichment classes, and college prep opportunities.

Based on student performance in eighth grade, as well as teacher recommendations, students are invited to take part in the program, which runs from July 6-29, and covers science, social studies and English.

The Jump Start Program was conceived by former Port Chester Superintendent Charles Coletti, who was looking for a way to help ninth graders struggling to earn the necessary lab hours to make them eligible for the Living Environment Regents Exam.

Coletti raised enough money for 20  students, helping them complete dozens of lab hours before they even sat through their first high school class.

Today, funded by the district and overseen by Program Coordinator Veruzca Munoz and Administrator Mark Santora, the Jump Start Program has undergone a significant expansion, and is reaching more incoming freshmen than ever before.

"Over the years, the program has broadened to being not just a science prep program, but also to try to address literacy and information skills that were lacking in our incoming ninth graders," said Port Chester High School Principal Mitchell Combs. "The program, since it has been funded by the 21st Century Grant, has allowed us to invite students beyond just those who have struggled in the middle school. Teachers enjoy the opportunity to work with students before they get to the high school, and the impression of the program by students, teachers, and administrators has been very positive. We expect students do to better in ninth grade than they would have done without any interventions."

Although a lot of the material covered during the four weeks of the Jump Start Program will be revisited during the school year, the teachers who are involved stress that the program offers an opportunity for a different kind of learning, one more interactive and better suited for summer classes.

"Last year, instead of the typical summer school, we decided to start a project," said Port Chester High School history teacher and Jump Start instructor Chris Kazim. "We asked them in 15 days to come up with an answer to 'Should countries exploit their natural resources for economic gain?' We've looked at places like India, China, Brazil, and now the Gulf of Mexico. As important as school is during the year, this is looking at the 21st century, at issues that are going to directly affect them later in life. We're trying to hook them into something."

Another way organizers are striving to make the summer program more inviting is through various field trips, again with the broader goal of preparing students for the next step in their academic careers while showing them how what they learn in the classroom can have direct application in the real world.

This year's participants will take a number of trips to local colleges and cultural venues, including Pace University and the Rye Nature Center. The field trips also allow for teachers and students to form bonds in ways impossible in the classroom, something extremely valuable once the regular school year is underway.

"It's important to do that so that they can see that what they are learning has relations to the outside world," said Munoz. "The good thing is that these teachers that we chose are the ones that will be working with them throughout the school year. Last year that helped the students a lot because there was someone there they knew and they had connected with."

After all, who doesn't like a good head start?