Summerbridge: students teaching
students
Interview with Justine Stamen
by Carl Herman
Justine Stamen, Director of the highly successful
Summerbridge academic enrichment program for low-income, middle school students, explains
how volunteers enable bright children to enter top-level high schools, and to develop
community service spirit and skills.
Justine Stamen is the Director of Summerbridge at Riverdale, located in the
Bronx, New York City. Summerbridge is a unique workshop in education where academically
motivated public and parochial middle school students (grades 6-8) from low-income
families are taught by outstanding high school and college students who want to make a
difference in education. The program includes two rigorous six-week academic summer
sessions, school-year activities, and year-round high school counseling for students and
their families. Teachers receive a modest stipend for their internship work. Carl Herman
interviewed Justine Stamen for Share International.
Carl Herman: How would you describe Summerbridge?
Justine Stamen: Summerbridge is an academic enrichment program for middle school
students. At this point, Summerbridge is at 35 sites in this country, and one in Hong
Kong. What unites us all is our interest in students teaching students. Newsweek
magazine recently wrote about us: " ... getting younger students into learning and
older students into teaching." That says it all.
CH: Why have students teaching students?
JS: The small age gap between students and teachers has proven to be inspiring
to the middle schoolers. They think their teachers are young, smart and cool. (They are of
course.) Also, there is no reason in the world why a talented high school or college
student cannot teach a middle schooler. We work very hard to recruit high school students
from the neighborhood to teach in the program. Having teachers from the community adds an
element which is too often absent from public and private schools.
CH: What are the academic results for participants in Summerbridge?
JS: To go through the program one must commit to two to three years of six-week
summer academic sessions, Saturdays during the school year, and intense high school
counseling. In the summer sessions, students study English, math, science, and history
each day, and can choose among Latin, Japanese, Spanish and French. They also get public
speaking skills, art electives, field trips around the city, and a career development
program where we bring in adult professionals to talk about different types of jobs.
We measure the success of our program in a few ways. Do the students stay? We
have 92 per cent retention. Where do the students end up? We are interested in
Summerbridge students attending high schools that will give them a lot of attention and
where the academics are going to be tops. We look for schools where they will be able to
experience other types of activities, arts and sports included, that often their families
would not be able to offer them: sort of a one-stop shop where they can get as much
enrichment as possible. How many of our students end up in such schools? Ninety-six per
cent of our kids go on to top academic high schools, and that includes certain boarding
schools, certain independent schools in New York City, the top public schools, and top
parochial schools.
CH: How many of your students are of lower economic status?
JS: All of our students. That is one of the criteria to get into Summerbridge
since it is a free academic enrichment program. We do not want to waste a spot on someone
who could afford to go to an expensive summer school or pay for the extra-curricular
classes we offer free of charge.
CH: How do your students get into these top private schools? Im sure
the tuition is far greater than they can pay.
JS: All private schools have financial aid. Our students need almost complete
financial aid packages. It is very competitive to get these packages, and there is not a
lot of money out there, but it does exist. Having top grades and test scores makes a
difference: that is part of the reason our students work so hard.
Giving back
CH: What are the interpersonal skills developed in Summerbridge students?
JS: "Students teaching students" sends the message that life is about
giving back. The young students quickly aspire to become teachers themselves. Whether they
want to be teachers for the rest of their lives or not, most want to come back and teach
in the program for at least a year. Community is something we talk about a lot. Some
programs tell these students theyre disadvantaged. I tell them as often as possible
they are advantaged. Theyre healthy, most of them come from families where
theyre loved, and most of them have had teachers who gave them their all even if it
has not been in ideal conditions (i.e. in overcrowded classrooms). Besides, theyre
part of Summerbridge, which is a great place. If they stick with us, were going to
stick with them and help guide them to meet their goals.
We also have a third-year component thats optional called ServiceBridge, a
service learning program where students work three days a week outside Summerbridge in the
Bronx community. One group works in an environmental project; one group works with younger
kids, some of whom are homeless, in an educational program; and one group works in a
wonderful soup kitchen called POTS (Part Of The Solution). At POTS, they learn about
serving people with dignity. These students come back and present a community service
symposium for the younger students. Most of them continue with their volunteering after
the year is over. We are very proud of this program.
CH: What do your faculty say about why they teach?
JS: Maryam Kashani, a Summerbridge alumnus and teacher who is a current UC
Berkeley student says: "Teaching at Summerbridge is surrendering your heart, mind and
body for six weeks to an amazing group of kids, and an endless amount of work." They
all say its very hard work, but theres a certain feeling they get at the end
of the day that makes it worthwhile. I know of no other school where young people have as
much responsibility. Its entirely run by young people. Even the Directors are under
30. At Summerbridge one gets to teach a class or two or three, and co-ordinate activities.
If a teacher has an idea thats going to enrich the kids in some way, she or he can
try it at Summerbridge. Were not so structured here that one can never realize an
unconventional idea.
SI: The traditional academic curriculum emphasizes knowledge to be
transferred to the student. Does Summerbridge place any emphasis beyond knowledge,
specifically on who the student is, how he or she sees life?
JS: In English, math, science and history classes, the students are forced to
look at who they are as people. For example, we have a history class called "American
Heroes". When students talk about who an American hero is, and what that means to
different people, they cant help but think about who they are. The fact that the
teachers are choosing to sacrifice in a big way also makes an impact. The students see the
teachers getting so much out of the program in a non-material way. If this does not
promote the ethic that happiness is not tied to a dollar sign, I dont know what
does. At Summerbridge, students are learning to feel good about being solid community
members.
CH: What is the future for Summerbridge?
JS: In New York City there are one million school children, most of whom would
benefit from a program like Summerbridge. There is interest in starting a program in
Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. We hope this will happen in the near future, because we
have three times as many students who apply as we can accept in the Bronx. Its
exciting to know the program exists at 36 sites. However, because our results are so good
and because were incredibly cost effective (less than $1,000 per student annually),
I hope Summerbridge will be replicated in communities all over the country, especially
when people see it can work.
For information about Summerbridge, please contact Justine Stamen (Director)
at (718) 519-2767, or write to Summerbridge at Riverdale, 5250 Fieldston Road, Bronx, NY
10471, USA.
Carl Herman is a Share International
correspondent from Los Angeles, California. This article is from a past issue of Share International.
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