LEADERSHIP SCHOLARS SUMMER PROGRAM
The Leadership Scholars Program helps its participants reach new heights in leadership and academics in its Summer Program. The four-week summer program is aimed at the scholars and selected leaders who participated in the Leadership Scholars Program during the past year. The geographical focus is on Inner-City Cincinnati, and, in 2010, a total of 110 students will be impacted. The program occurs on Xavier University’s campus for four weeks, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 AM until 3:30 PM each day. During the week prior to the start of the summer program, there is a faculty and staff training session. The summer program concludes with a Celebration Event on the evening of the last Friday of classes.
A total of four (4) high school and grade school instructors (for each class of scholars) serve as classroom teachers from 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM. They are assisted by four (4) leaders, who serve as assistant teachers during the morning, and, in addition, teach their own recreational courses during the afternoon. Several additional leaders student-teach their own recreational courses during the afternoon. The Summer Program is directed by the Summer Program Director, Matthew Cohen.
The daily routine consists of academic courses, taught by professional teachers assisted by leaders, in the morning, and recreational courses, taught exclusively by the leaders and other volunteers, in the afternoon. The academic courses include English Grammar and Vocabulary; World Cultures/Computer Skills; Public Speaking and Leadership; and Advanced and Remedial Mathematics. The recreational courses taught depend on the particular strengths of the leaders and volunteers, but may include pottery, chess, poetry/spoken word, art, debate, drama, photography, video/film, and dance, among others.
The Summer Program also involves a weekly Field Trip, speaker series, and summer-long project for the scholars. In addition, we have two Family Nights, during which the parents and their children meet others in the program in a social setting, and a Family Day and Visitors’ Day, during which other individuals participate in the Summer Program courses. The issue that the Summer Program addresses is enabling the scholars to further develop their leadership and academic abilities, and providing consistency and structure for the scholars. The goals are to improve scholars’ proficiency in each of the four academic subject areas, as well as on the high school entrance exam; communication skills; and analytical thinking skills. Further, the goals are to improve the leaders’ communication skills, analytical thinking skills, and abilities to coordinate and manage others. Moreover, by providing leadership development, we expect a larger percentage of the scholars and leaders to attend and succeed in college. Success will be determined by the scholars’ performance on assessments in each of the four academic subjects, as well as on the high school entrance exam (they will be assessed at the very beginning and end of the program). In addition, the projects themselves, which will involve presentations, will demonstrate the extent to which the scholars and leaders have acquired the various leadership skills that we are teaching them.
Last year's Summer Program was partially sponsored by the Charles H. Dater Foundation, The P&G Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and the Joseph J. Schott Foundation.