Goodhue’s front doors burst open this summer with sixteen enthusiastic Middle Schoolers. All the scholars were eager to open up and show their playful personalities.

Over the summer at Hackley, the Twelfth Grade Dean, David Sykes, launched the Hudson Scholars program, an academic enrichment program for rising sixth graders from Washington Irving Public School.

Mr. Sykes said, “My hope was to create an experience that would not only allow Hackley the opportunity to share our passionate teachers and students with the outside community, but one that would also be an enriching experience for the Hackley community itself.”

25 students from Washington Irving School in Tarrytown were nominated as the most academically passionate students to participate in the program, but the group was later narrowed down to 16.

Mr. Sykes said, “As a two-week ‘pilot’ program, we wanted to have as successful an experience for our scholars as possible.  One way to do that was for me to get to know each child…we wanted a small number to allow for a strong community feel, small classes, and lots of individual attention.”

Six Middle and Upper School teachers from Hackley and 16 volunteers contributed to make the program run smoothly. Mr. Sykes started off the day by personally picking up the scholars on a school bus with a few volunteers. Following the pickup, they spent roughly an hour-and-a-half in each class learning English, Drama, Community Research, Science, Math, and P.E. from Hackley teachers.

Volunteers were assigned to classes and acted as teachers’ assistants, while others were in charge of the Hudson Scholars blog that was updated on a daily basis and a biweekly newsletter that updated parents on the scholars’ classwork.

Sophomore volunteer Rami Sumaida said, “The scholars were able to have fun during all the activities by learning more about the other scholars and being able to recognize their creativity and individuality.”

In addition to creating and leading the program, Mr. Sykes taught a class based on the definition of community called Community Research. He chose to teach the scholars about community rather than a traditional history class because the aim of the Hudson Scholars program is to create a relationship between the Tarrytown Public Schools and Hackley.

The scholars and volunteers went on a field trip to Teatown Lake in Ossining where they learned about the dangers of pollution, participated in a scavenger hunt, and spent a night camping with the volunteers on Akin Common. On the last day, the scholars were introduced to the organization, Latino U College Access, that specializes in raising awareness of the importance of college to communities of first generation Latino families.

In addition to the community  experience that this program offered these Middle Schoolers from Washington Irving, the camp provided the Hackley volunteers with the opportunity to mentor and learn from students outside of Hackley.

Rami Sumaida said, “I really understood how much all the scholars looked up to me as a volunteer and as a friend. It really made my experience even more enjoyable and gratifying than it already was.”

Sophomore Kit Greenberg described a special moment with a scholar she connected with: “I was extremely impressed with Ywomie and how hard she worked on her presentation about the Dominican community. It showed me that the scholars really cared about the program.”

Mr. Sykes hopes to extend the Hudson Scholars program into the school year and next summer to follow up on the students. He plans to continue the friendship and mentorship between the scholars and volunteers by organizing homework help on the weekends and extending the two-week program to four weeks in 2017. Mr. Sykes hopes to extend the Hudson Scholars program into the school year and next summer to follow up on the students. He plans to continue the friendship and mentorship between the scholars and volunteers by organizing homework help on the weekends and by extending the two-week program to four weeks in 2017.

Photos by Robert Patterson.