"This program is really one the the best ways that all of us can break down artificial barriers that too often exist."
-Hillary Rodham Clinton, CSSP commencement speaker, 2014

Academics

CSSP is an academic enrichment program. Our board provides stimulating classes that our students would not have an opportunity to take at their home schools. Classes are held in the Horace Greeley High School.

Students take four classes in total. Three classes are offered Monday- Thursday, and one class is offered all day at the Jacob Burns Film Center and Media Arts Lab, a non-profit educational and cultural institution in Pleasantville, NY. In summer 2017, our students studied Contemporary Issues, Shakespeare with actors from the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and Digital Storytelling at the Jacob Burns Film Center. Other courses offered have included Computer Science, Art History, Economics, and Writing.

Students are expected to work hard, participate in classes and complete all homework. To remain in good standing in the program, students must maintain at least an 85% average in both CSSP summer school and their high school.

The Homestay

Students often comment that one of the best parts of CSSP is the opportunity to meet and live with new families. Local families welcome the students with open arms, making them feel right at home. Each student lives with two different families during the month, returning home to the city on the weekends. Families and students develop new friendships as well as a greater understanding of each other's lives and experiences. CSSP student and host family relationships often last for many years- our Board members have attended college graduations and weddings of CSSP alumni!

Our families volunteer,  they are not remunerated financially.

Afternoon Activities

CSSP offers a range of recreational, educational and cultural experiences that are relaxing, fun and enriching. Weekly tennis and swimming lessons are provided as well as trips to local places of interest. These trips have included exercise classes at a local health club, bowling, ice-skating, and dance classes with a member of the Broadway cast of The Lion King. Our students take tours of local colleges and universities, and have visited the IBM research campus. There are also visits to nearby museums, such as a tour of Kykuit, the historic home of the Rockefeller family, as well as other homes in the Historic Hudson Valley. Every summer we have a special screening of an independent film at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY. A highlight of the summer is our annual trip to the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival at Boscobel, a beautiful estate overlooking the Hudson River where students view the play they have studied. We take an evening picnic and watch Shakespeare under the tent. Our annual evening softball game is also a favorite with our students and families.