Messages & Writings
07.22.08
Creating a Summertime Hub for Our Community
During the summer months Northeastern’s campus, unlike that of many other universities, is alive with energy and activity. Nearly half of our students pursue academic work during the summer—many of them on campus as well as in study abroad or online. Many others pursue fulltime co-op jobs or other forms of experiential learning, around the world as well as in Boston. Students, alumni, and other members of the Northeastern family come back to connect to friends through Northeastern’s Summester program of excursions and activities highlighting the best of summertime Boston and the region.
Adding to the excitement around campus this summer are the young people from our neighborhoods who participate in the many summer programs we offer. As an institution deeply rooted in the Boston community, we’re committed to involving Boston youths in activities and events at Northeastern throughout the year. At no time is it more important and more rewarding to engage the young people of our community than during the summer months, when we can combine active enjoyments with active learning.
On the academic front, the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Program, which runs for two weeks, began July 9. Through this camp, 48 Boston-area middle school students with a strong interest in math and science get to work alongside Northeastern faculty, staff, and students on science, technology, engineering, and math projects. They’ll build and launch bottle rockets, study microbes under a microscope, build and test a bridge, and work with nanoparticles. This free program runs in more than 25 universities across the country, and Northeastern was the only campus in New England selected to host the program.
Another summer program preparing students for academic success is our Algebra Plus Summer Camp, part of Northeastern’s MathPower initiative. Designed for students who will entering grades 6 through 9 in fall 2008, the five-week camp strengthens students’ math skills through review and enrichment and provides a variety of club activities—including a Spanish language and culture club, sports, and a program that explores college and career options with students and their parents—that broaden their educational interests and their recreational opportunities at the same time.
Also reaching out to young students and their families is the Youth Development Initiative Program (YDIP), which involves 25 families residing in housing developments around Northeastern. This innovative program for middle-schoolers runs year-round with a special six-week summer program that began July 9. YDIP’s mission is to help prepare the youth of these families for entrance to college. Throughout this summer, YDIP participants, all of whom receive a full-tuition scholarship to the program, will follow a schedule that weaves instruction in professional and life skills, math, and literature with activities like swimming. It’s a truly unique summer camp experience—one that will have a lasting impact on each student.
Our young students and their families from our immediate neighborhood mingle on Northeastern’s campus with the hundreds of students and parents, from Boston and around the globe, here for freshman orientation; with Torch Scholars preparing intensively for academic and personal success in their first term at Northeastern; and with the faculty and graduate students who advance Northeastern’s research and scholarship in our laboratories and libraries over the summer. Our mission—to educate students for a life of fulfillment and accomplishment, and to create and translate knowledge to meet global and societal needs—is alive on our campus year-round.
I want to thank everyone involved in making these summer programs and the many others in progress around campus such a tremendous success. For more information, please contact our Government Relations and Community Affairs Office at 617.373.5805.
In the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful, productive, and enjoyable rest of the summer.