Summer Programs Offer Fun Yet Educational Courses

By Anna Hodge

Just because school is over does not mean learning has to stop. With Newtown Continuing Education Programs offered this summer, including the SMART Program, CSI Newtown, Broadway Bound, and Summer Scratch, the youth of Newtown have many options to make their summer an educated one.

The SMART Program is a comprehensive offering of courses in the visual arts, sciences, movement, music, and creative dramatics, courses are offered for students exiting kindergarten to sixth grade. With activities from keyboarding to fabric art to yoga, students can participate in a wide variety of artistic experiences.

Newtown Continuing Education staff member, Elissa Gellis, said if she were able to participate in the SMART program, she would choose the Discovering Great Artists course. “I have an art background.” she said. “I love to see what other artists have done.”

The first session of the SMART program has a fee of $269, beginning July 6 through July 16 from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm. Meanwhile, the second session is $299 and will begin on July 19 through July 30.

However, there are still more programs offered. Ms Gellis said she believes that the CSI Newtown is a “wonderful program for children in that age group to experience.” In two nine-day sessions, students will learn the basics of forensic science, such as chromatography and evidence collection. There is still time to sign up. With the first session beginning July 6 and the second session beginning July 20, registration is open to Newtown students exiting grades 5 through 8. Taking place at Reed Intermediate School, CSI Newtown has a cost per session of $299, a roughly $33 cost per day.

“I’m hooked on CSI,” Gellis said. “So for me, it seems like a great thing.”

For those interested in video game production, computer programming in Summer Scratch is offered with two one-week sessions, with each week set at $84. By the end of a session, students will create an interactive video game or animation that they may have the opportunity to post on the Scratch website. Scratch was developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab, which is used to teach today’s young people about 21st Century technologies, according to Ms Gellis.

Meanwhile, Broadway Bound is a summer theater workshop offered for kids ages 8 through 15. With two sessions beginning June 28 through July 16 and July 19 through August 6, the program is open to people in all areas not only residents of Newtown. The cost is $600 per session.

Although the deadline for Broadway Bound expired on Wednesday, June 23, there is still time to sign up for the SMART program, CSI Newtown, and Summer Scratch, all with the deadline of June 30.

For more information about these program, visit newtowncontinuinged.org or call 203-426-1787.