Say Yes summer camp counselors ready to get to work

Say Yes summer camp counselors ready to get to workJune 25, 2009Susan Feightnersfeightn@syr.edu

Closing ceremonies for the Say Yes Summer Institute will take place Friday, June 26, for the 130 Central New York college students who were hired to work as camp counselors for the Say Yes to Education Summer Camp program, which begins July 6 and runs full days through Aug. 7.

National Say Yes to Education Founder George Weiss will motivate and encourage the student counselors at the closing ceremony, set to begin at 2:30 p.m. in Setnor Auditorium in Crouse College on the Syracuse University campus, followed by a barbecue for the camp counselors, teachers and Say Yes staff on the Quad.

Counselors were selected from a pool of more than 400 applicants for their various interests and skills, creative thinking and positive energy. They spent two weeks training in the areas of lesson planning, community building, children’s literature, writing, science and the arts. Of the 130 counselors, 36 are CNY Works students, 45 attend SU, 25 attend SUNY colleges, and the rest attend various colleges around the country, including Mount Holyoke, Villanova, Boston University, Champlain College, Alfred University, Oral Roberts, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Winston Salem State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Delaware, George Washington University, Marist College, Rice University and Harvard University.

The students will teach a variety of enrichment courses, including trumpet playing , swimming, drama, dance, science, ceramics, math, foreign language, health and nutrition, fashion design, puppetry, physics, radio/TV, entrepreneurship and many sports.

About 800 Syracuse City School District elementary students, ages 7-10, who attend Elmwood Elementary, Dr. King Magnet Elementary, McKinley-Brighton Magnet, Meachem Elementary, Roberts and Van Duyn Elementary are participating in the free summer camp program. Campers will spend mornings engaged in challenging academic programs, and afternoons will be filled with enrichment activities and field trips.

Say Yes to Education, Inc. a national, nonprofit foundation that began more than 20 years ago, is committed to dramatically increasing high school and college graduation rates for urban youth. The success of the program relies on providing positive academic supports, including after-school and summer camp programs, tutoring and mentoring, as well as social, emotional and legal supports to children and their families that enable and inspire students to graduate from high school, accomplish post-secondary education success, and achieve meaningful life goals, including giving back to their community. The program culminates with the promise of free tuition for students who meet residency requirements, graduate from a Syracuse City School District high school, and are admitted to one of more than 100 colleges and universities that are part of the Higher Education Compact.

To find out more about the Say Yes to Education program, go to http://www.sayyessyracuse.org.