The Highbridge Voices Summer Program is in full gear! From SAT prep to leadership training; from creating comic books to making musical compositions, the summer program has something for both our high school students and our newest recruits!

The high school component of the summer program focuses on academic success—we’re making sure our ninth and tenth graders stay sharp, even over the long summer vacation! Our students receive six hours of instruction per week in English Language Arts and math. This year, they are reading short stories by James Baldwin, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Sandra Cisneros, and writing short stories of their own. They are learning how to be fiscally responsible in their Math & Financial Literacy class, in which they choose a life profile (a job, a living situation, and a variety of financial obligations), then try to “live” within a given budget and put money into a savings account as well!

Our juniors and seniors have been hard at work with their Leadership Training course. They are preparing to be interns in the fall. They have received First Aid and CPR certification from the American Red Cross. They have worked on counseling and supervising skills, and they have even gone through a team-building course on the trapeze at the Trapeze School of New York! They are also taking a Kaplan SAT class and starting the college application process. All this has kept them busy and learning a lot! They are going to make a terrific team of interns this fall!

We also welcome our youngest Highbridge Voices singers as part of our NEW fourth and fifth grade summer program. These nine and ten-year-olds are participating in three fun-filled weeks, during which they get to train for being a member of Concert Choir. 70 students from Sacred Heart School, Bronx Academy of Promise, and PS 11 are a part of this pilot program. Students participate in choir rehearsals, music classes, and academic classes. They write their own stories about Highbridge Voices’ very own superhero, and they create their own board games using multiplication and fraction skills. They make new friends and enjoy silly games and fun play time outside. It all culminates with a concert for their friends and families at the closing program on September 5th.

It’s always exciting to be at Highbridge Voices, and the summer is no exception. We can’t wait to see everyone back for the 2013-2014 Season!