Riis Academy Cultural Day
As our Riis Academy participants begin a new school year today, we want to celebrate the accomplishments of the over 400 participants who attended our summer camps this year. We would also like to acknowledge and thank the staff at each of our four summer camps (Riis Academy-Queensbridge, Riis Academy-Ravenswood, Riis Academy-CS111, and Riis Academy-PS166) for all their hard work and dedication in helping to make this year’s programs fun and enriching for all our participants.
Over the course of seven weeks, participants engaged in a number of activities designed to prevent summer learning loss. They read books, maintained summer journals, and designed their own comic books. They also worked on several group projects aimed at developing their problem-solving, decision-making, and overall leadership skills. And of course, they went on numerous trips! The youth visited the Coney Island Aquarium, LEGOLAND, Lake Compounce, the LIC Piers, Randall’s Island, and Luna Park. They enjoyed ice skating, roller skating, bowling, miniature golf, and so much more!
All of the activities culminated in the Cultural Day celebration, which was held on August 15th and marked the official end of summer camp. This year’s theme was the Caribbean, and at the start of summer camp each site was assigned one of the four following nations to represent: Barbados, Guyana, Cuba and Jamaica. During the seven weeks of program, they learned about the history and culture of their respective nation and designed costumes, flags, and artwork for exhibition on Cultural Day.
The celebration include a banner parade and competition, a segment called the Knowledge Bowl where students were tested on their knowledge of the nations they were representing, and relevant dance performances from each of the camps. It was a wonderful event and a great way to showcase all that the students had learned throughout the summer.
While the younger youth had a lot of fun at camp, our older Riis Academy-InfoTech students were also busy over the summer gaining vital work readiness skills at a number of internships across western Queens. Students aspiring to be future engineers worked at the Ravenswood Generating Station, while those interested in healthcare worked at Coler Hospital on Roosevelt Island. Other internship sites included the Pink Canary Bakery, the Museum of the Moving Image, WBAI non-profit radio, and City Hall. And, a number of students interned here at Riis, serving in a number of administrative functions. One student in particular, Chelsea Toribio-Flores helped to craft this summer newsletter; (Thank you, Chelsea!)
Christian Chavarro; intern at the Ravenswood Generating Station: ” the experience was really amazing, I want to be an engineer for real now… I saw so many things I never could have imagined. I am going to really do whatever it takes to get accepted to SUNY Albany.”
All in all, our students continued to excel and reach new heights throughout the summer. We have no doubt that 2018/2019 is going to be another successful academic year for them, and we look forward to welcoming them all back to Riis Academy in the coming weeks.
