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YONKERS, N.Y. When the school year opens next week, many Yonkers students will already be in midseason form.
Dozens of Yonkers public school students were in the classroom this summer, participating in various summer programs. High school students were introduced to college-level courses, while kindergartners and younger students headed to Camp SMART or the learning lab to brush up their skills.
These types of initiatives promote success, promote more graduation and also more college entrants, Board of Education member Nader Sayegh said of the summer programs.
Many of the Yonkers summer programs were focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics with lessons meant to spark students interest in the fields.
Younger students were given a chance to use mobile technology. Partnering with Fordham and Columbia universities, Yonkers had elementary school students interview teachers about their own schooling before reporting their findings in a newscast.
Meanwhile, several middle school students headed to the learning lab, where they explored animals' relationships with such things as climate and water pollution.
Not to be left out, 32 high schoolers spent part of their summer at Manhattan College, learning about campus life while studying college-level engineering concepts delivered by Manhattan professors.
Others headed to Ithaca, Mercy and Sarah Lawrence colleges, where they got advanced lessons in probability and statistics, mathematical modeling or the sciences.
I would like to be a mechanical engineer, and by participating in the (Manhattan College) program, I gained a perspective that I didnt have before, said Lawrence Lee, a junior at Saunders Trades and Technical High School, according to the district website.
Teachers said the students werent the only ones who reaped the rewards.
This program has been amazing, not only for our students, but us as educators, said Teronnie Bronfield, a Yonkers Middle/High School special education teacher. The professional development from this program has given me a chance to get myself comfortable with this technology, and show me how to best implement it with my students during the year.
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