Date: Fri 26-Jul-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

summer-school-SMART

Full Text:

with photos: Summer School Isn't What It Used To Be

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Summer school certainly isn't what it used to be.

Of course, summer school still helps students make up credits they need, but

now there's so much more.

Besides camp, there never used to be many options for Newtown students

interested in keeping busy during the summer months. These days, however,

Newtown schools offer a host of programs and workshops designed to make

learning fun in July and August.

Newtown's Summer Music and Art program (SMART) offers young people the chance

to be exposed to programs that usually are not available during the school

year. Instead of the usual courses like English, mathematics, science and

history, students from kindergarten through seventh grade are learning about

puppetry, music, drama, poetry, cartooning, sculpture, pottery and more.

The two-week, two-session program, now in its fifth year and currently in

session at Sandy Hook School, is run by Continuing Education Director Diane

Thompson, who points out that there's just not enough time or money during the

school year to offer the kinds of experiences found in SMART.

"Students get to develop certain parts of themselves that they wouldn't

normally be able to," she explained.

Looking to extend art and music learning opportunities to students year-round,

SMART was the brainchild of Mrs Thompson, former Sandy Hook School Principal

Ron Vitarelli, and parents Colleen Swain and Janice Anderson.

With a grant from IBM, SMART was up and running in 1991. It has since become a

school-supported program. Tuition for the two-week session is $200.

Mrs Thompson said some students arrive for the first day of SMART and figure

it's going to be a lot like school except that it takes place in the summer.

"It's not at all. The SMART program is much more relaxed. It's fun learning

and there's no real curriculum to follow," she explained.

The combination of fun and learning was evident last Friday as SMART held a

"showcase" where parents and friends were invited to observe the activities

their children had been involved in during the two-week session.

This year's SMART teachers include Jarret Liotta (poetry/cartooning), John

Zelina (aerial art), Susan Eason (stained glass), Wendy Reid-King (pottery),

Dana Sachs (drama), Virginia Zimmerman (puppet theater), Michelle Hiscavich

(violin), Val Wolfe (band), Karen Bradlaw (color), Helen Malyzska (music for

young people).

In addition to a professional staff, the SMART Program uses student interns,

enabling them to enhance their skills and formulate decisions about their

career plans.

Sandy Hook isn't the only hotbed for fun learning this summer. At Head O'

Meadow School, students enrolled in "Summer Shorts" are improving their

creative writing skills, brightening up their art work and learning everything

they ever wanted to know about bugs.

The one-week classes, including the ever popular "Bug Class," which is taught

by Middle Gate School teacher Kristen Strobel, are geared more toward the arts

& crafts.