For three weeks this summer, Red Hook students could learn how to cook, write essays, create graphic novels, and even escape escape rooms.
The annual Red Hook Summer Academy wrapped up Friday after dozens of students took part in the free learning program, which balances college preparation with niche-interest education.
The program each year is organized by the Office of Curriculum and Instruction, with funding from the Red Hook Education Foundation and The Ascienzo Foundation. Eight different subjects were offered across the three weeks, for which students signed up for 164 total seats.
Each of the classes were offered in weeklong sessions, which were open to any students who have completed the eighth through 12th grades this past year. While some, like Paint-A-Shoe, Escape Room Adventures, Graphic Novel, and Coaching Techniques, were offered once, Culinary Camp, SAT Math and Extended Essay Power Hours had multiple sessions. Student interest dictated the class subject and frequency.
College Essay was offered six times and, as it is each year, was the most popular class. Nearly all of the 78 total students who signed up to participate in Summer Academy signed up for College Essay.
Christine Griffin, who ran Summer Academy alongside Christie Hegarty, designed the College Essay course, an offshoot of a unit she originally taught in one of her English classes.
Griffin attributes the popularity of the class to the students knowing “at the end of the week, they’ll have something done in hand.”
Each of the students receive a packet curated by Griffin, which includes the list of essay prompts, a collection of “killer first sentences,” examples of good and bad essays, and other reference materials.
The class begins on Monday with a group discussion. Griffin reviews good and bad examples, as well the prompts themselves, pointing out the importance of choosing the proper prompt. “We look at the data and kind of talk about, if you’re going to do prompt no. 7, which is an essay of your choice, if 28% of all students applying to college are addressing prompt no. 7 we have to make sure yours stands out,” she said.
The teacher also helps students brainstorm topic ideas and then, as the writing process evolves, make the connection needed in any of the essay prompts between the story the student chose to tell and what they learned as a result. By week’s end, the biggest hurdle tends to be editing down the piece to the 650-word limit.
“They’re so used to doing academic writing, and this is very personal,” Griffin said of the difficulty of writing college essays. “I lot of them have never really done that before and don’t feel comfortable kind of bragging about themselves.”
Many teens have also never cooked a full meal. Culinary Camp changed that this month, with eight students registering in each of the two sessions it was offered. A couple of the students registered for both weeks.
Christina Annunziata each day taught the students a new cooking technique: knife skills Monday, simmering Tuesday, boiling Wednesday and steaming Thursday, with baking saved for last. What resulted was such dishes as spaetzle, pork dumplings, chicken and vegetables en papillote, quiche and strawberry shortcake, among others.
Annunziata had the students work in stations, with some focusing on a main course and others an accompaniment, like garlic lemon compound butter.“No one wants to just come here and stir one pot. It’s boring,” she said. “So I break them up into teams and everybody does something different.”
And, the students who attended more than one week were able to try making a different part of the meal during their second go-round.
Annunziata pointed out, while a class like Culinary Camp may not be part of a college application process or SAT preparation, it arms students with life skills.
“You may not remember my name in 10 years but when you’re in college dorm room or apartment one day, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I know the ratio to rice, that lady in the summer taught me. Oh, I know how to make a vinaigrette!’” she said. “I just want them to take away one thing a day. If they do that, I feel like I served my purpose here.”