Letter to the Editor: Summer Enrichment at New Canaan Country School Prevents Summer Slide

Dear Editor,

Horizons at New Canaan Country School started in 1964 and is the flagship program for what has become a national movement. Our original Summer Enrichment Program remains a core component of Horizons. Our educational model has been confirmed to help eliminate the impact of the “summer slide” and reduce the “achievement gap.” This summer we served almost 300 students, the majority of whom live in Stamford and Norwalk. We raise our entire budget annually from private sources to ensure that each child receives a full-scholarship for our programming.

This summer we are particularly grateful for the support of our many community partners for their donations of goods, time or services: Coca Cola, for providing bottled water for our six week summer program; The Summer Theatre of New Canaan, for producing a dedicated performance of “The Wizard of Oz” for over 220 Horizons students; The Community Health Center and numerous health care professionals for helping us host our second annual Horizons Health Fair; New Canaan Mounted Troop for our weekly “Changing Leads” equine care program; and our community partners JDRF, Waveny LifeCare, Volunteer Square, Family Centers, P2P, STAR, and the Maritime Aquarium for helping us host our first annual Horizons Volunteer Fair for high school students . A special thank you to Norwalk Community College for helping us to create a memorable and meaningful 9th Grade pilot program partially hosted on their campus. In addition, we had numerous individual volunteers including visiting artists, guest readers and swim instructors.

We were able to provide our programming in part from the generosity of our civic support as well, specifically from The First County Bank Foundation, The New Canaan Community Foundation, The Exchange Club of New Canaan and the New Canaan Sewing Group.

We are proud of our long history and thankful for the amazing community partners who help make Horizons a success.

Kerry Yeager Stevens

Executive Director

Horizons Student Enrichment Program at New Canaan Country School