April 16, 2007 (Vol. 5, No. 6)

Bronx Institute Eighth Graders Qualify for Prestigious CTY Program at Johns Hopkins

Eleven eighth graders in the Bronx Institute's GEAR UP and ENLACE programs have qualified to attend the highly selective Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University—a development that a CTY coordinator calls "unprecedented."

"In the more than 25-year history of the program," said Karen Corsey, senior coordinator at CTY, "we have seldom had so many successful applicants, particularly in the eighth grade, from urban areas comparable to the Bronx."

CTY is a recognized leader in campus-based educational enrichment for gifted and talented middle and high school students. Every year, nearly 80,000 students in grades 7-11 apply for entrance into its summer workshops and other programs. To be considered for admission, students must score in the highest percentage of the SAT, even in the eighth grade.

The students can apply for a full scholarship to pay for their CTY studies this summer if they have maintained high performance in middle school and if their parents meet the program's income criteria. Two of the applicants will be awarded scholarships worth $20,000 for their participation in CTY summer programs, as well as other academic opportunities during their four years of high school. The scholarships are funded by the Next Generation Venture Fund Scholarship Program, which is supported by the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

According to Dr. Herminio Martinez, executive director of the Bronx Institute, many eighth graders who attend Bronx public schools come from families with great financial hardship. "They are largely members of minority groups," he explained, "and for the most part, their families are unaware of programs like CTY."

Dr. Martinez, who is also a member of the education faculty at Lehman College, was invited in 2006 to serve on the Advisory Board of the Next Generation Venture Fund. As a result, the Venture Fund offered the two $20,000 scholarships for eighth-grade students in Bronx Institute programs.

"There was a great deal of skepticism," Dr. Martinez noted, "about whether we could even find two eighth graders from our local Bronx public schools to qualify with such high SAT scores, particularly since most students in those schools have not yet had the opportunity for SAT test preparation."

As it turned out, their worries were unfounded.

Last month, the eleven students and their families gathered at Lehman College to meet Ms. Corsey from CTY, who helped them to select their courses for the very intense and challenging three-week summer workshops. A running translation in Spanish was provided, since five of the families are not yet proficient in English. Students from the Mid East, Indonesia and Africa were also among the eleven.

"I have always believed that our Bronx students' possess great capacities and motivation to excel on a high academic level," Dr. Martinez said. "I know that these eleven students will become beacons for other students, who also will have the chance to pursue their own paths to college and career through our GEAR UP and ENLACE programs."

Last year, the 47 initial "graduates" of the Bronx Institute ENLACE's Latino Collegiate Society were accepted into a broad range of 60 public and private colleges. They were offered over $1.2 million in scholarships.

The Bronx Institute is part of Lehman's Division of Education. It seeks to improve the quality of life in the Bronx, especially in the area of education, and provides services in three major areas: youth development, research, and teacher professional development.

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