Dear REACH Foundation:
I received a Reach Foundation of Rockland scholarship to attend the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Choral Studies at SUNY Fredonia for four weeks this past summer 2011. It was the most wonderful summer experience I have ever had.
With other talented students and a superb artistic faculty with intensive vocal and musical instruction, I experienced the joy of singing, the thrill of performing, and the power of choral music. I had private voice lessons and participated in musical theater and opera scenes, stagecraft and movement, small ensembles, and voice recitals. We performed with the NYSSSA Chorale in the King Concert Hall at the Rockefeller Center for the Arts at SUNY Fredonia and in the Amphitheater at the famous Chautauqua Institution, and enjoyed a variety of cultural activities, including concerts, opera and theater performances, as well as master classes and workshops by guest artists. In the process, I met other students from all over New York State who also love music, and made a lot of new friends.
Thank you very much, Reach Foundation members, for making this dream summer come true for me!
Sincerely,
2011 Scholarship recipient
Dear REACH,
Thank you for my scholarship for the Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Laboratory of the Columbia University Medical Center. I spent this past summer commuting to the lab, located inside the New York State Psychiatric Center. It was a computer lab, and I evaluated the methods for a program that through an averaged brain template, labels pinpointed regions onto imputed MRI/PET scans. The program is important because by making this method automated instead of forcing the lab to pay a full-time employee to do the work, it saves the lab resources that it can then spend on additional research projects.
I gained many things from this summer. The first were technical skills; I learned programming code for Matlab, Unix, and Unix Bash and gained experience working with various other software. Secondly, I got experience with New York City. I gathered a larger appreciation for it and can now roughly navigate myself around it. Thirdly, and possibly most importantly, I gained experience in a professional environment. Having never been in such an atmosphere before, I was fascinated to realize that my fellow coworkers were like my group of friends, except older, more polite, and with much higher vocabularies.
Thanks,
2008 Scholarship Recipient
I received a scholarship to go to John Hopkins’s CTY summer program. There are different academic courses offered, and the course I chose was Fundamentals of Computer Science.
Beyond the academic portion of the program there are activity periods for two hours on the weekdays, where they offer a variety of activities from tennis to frisbee to friendship bracelets, card games to blowing bubbles. Finally each weekend there were dances.
Class began each day at 9:00am and ended at 3:00pm with an hour of lunch. The class I attended was challenging — there was much to learn. We learned what makes up modern computer and the history behind computers, as well as how to write a basic program. This class gave us a foundation on how we can learn a variety of computer skills, such as creating Java applets for web pages and learning other programming languages. It also gave us a taste of this field of science and what it really entails.
Beyond the class, there were a lot of amazing people to meet at CTY. The students, as well as the staff, were people worth meeting, and [why I believe] the program was so rewarding. Befriending, interacting and laughing, we all found people we grew to love. The only regret I had was that I didn’t get a chance to meet all of the wonderful people there.
Even though there were rules to be followed and restraints to fit within, there was an air of freedom. It stemmed from not always having somebody at each corner telling you what to do, but instead clearly knowing what is expected of you. Without the pressures of everyday life and its worries, and the ability to choose how to live, you learn something about yourself. Sometimes it is a part of yourself that you’ve never seen before, sometimes you find what’s most important to you. And with all these forms of knowledge – about yourself, about the course, and about others – you come home and you remember. [I believe] this helps in anything else you do: learning something that you will have for the rest of your life.
2008 Scholarship Recipient
Dear Reach Foundation:
I would like to thank you for the scholarship to West Point Swim Camp. I had a great time and learned so much. We spent 5 hours a day in the pool working on our strokes and starts.
I was amazed at how beautiful West Point is and liked walking between our room and the pool.
I met a lot of nice kids and coaches. The head coach has one of his own swimmers going to the Olympics this year.
I was able to use some of what I learned this summer during the Rockland County Summer Swim League meets. I came in 2nd place for my backstroke in the Championships last week. I had a few best times this summer and I am sure it is because of what I learned at swim camp.
Thanks,
2008 Scholarship Recipient
My experience with the EDGE (Education Girls in Engineering) Workshop program of Union College this summer was tremendously rewarding. The two week program provided me with insight into numerous engineering disciplines in a project based, team assignment. My group was asked to develop a device to help a handicapped three year child. We designed and created an interactive toy that encouraged the child to move and respond to multiple sensory tools. The workshop inspired me to pursue engineering in college. It also helped created new friendships with the other girls that I’m sure will last a lifetime!
This opportunity was made possible with the financial help of the Reach Foundation and for that I am very grateful. My family and I will always treasure this experience and we thank you for your support.
2008 Scholarship Recipient
I want to thank the Reach Foundation for awarding me the scholarship to attend Springfield College last summer. The program I attended was Athletic Training and Sports Medicine.
The program was really great. I would definitely recommend anyone interested in this area to take this course.
At the end of the program you are tested on the material and receive certification in CPR and First AID. All the instructors were really helpful and we had lots of hands on experience.
In the middle of the week we all went on a rafting trip which was a lot of fun.
The other great experience was living on a college campus for a week. I lived in a dorm with kids from all over. I made friends with a lot of the kids who attended and we still keep in contact. The campus is beautiful and I liked having the opportunity to get an idea how it would be living on a small campus. Next I hope to have an opportunity to live on a larger campus to see how that would be.
Overall, it was a great experience.
This summer I am staying home and working at the Town Camps and in August I am heading up to Toronto for hockey camp. Next summer I hope to attend SUNY at Cobleskill. They have a forensics program I would like to take. Right now I am not sure what I will end up studying in college but these experiences help me understand more about my areas of interests.
Thank you again,
2007 Scholarship Recipient
