As July comes to an end, so too comes the end of Island Trees' Youth Education Summer (YES) Program, which this year extended the year's educational experiences for over 800 students in grades 1-8.

Although the majority of the students are in grades 1-6, this year there were some seventh and eighth grade students who took the opportunity to continue their studies through part of the summer vacation. The Summer YES Program is sponsored by the board of education and is strictly for students in the Island Trees School District. This program is designed to offer exciting summer learning activities in the areas of reading, math, computer skills, and science appreciation. Students also enjoy recreation and arts and crafts.

In the reading classes, children engage in reading, sharing discussing, and enjoying literature. The computer lab experience, for grades 2-5 includes hands-on access to computer software that is designed to improve students' grade-appropriate math and language skills. The hands-on science laboratory allows students to be involved in creating and performing science experiments using the concepts of measurements, volume, simple machines, and more. The math program involves hands-on math experiences and games that will be age and grade-level appropriate. The students spend 40 minutes in each of these classes. Each of the classes are intended to make this learning experience fun for the students.

Last week, Assemblywoman Kathleen Murray, who is the chair of the Minority Task Force on Education, took a tour of the program, which she has cited in many of her roundtable discussions about the state's new standards. In many instances, Murray has referred to the Island Trees Program as being a good example of what school districts are doing in order to better prepare students for the new standards mandated by the New York State Board of Regents.

Superintendent of Schools Richard Segerdahl outlined the program for Murray and explained the students' daily schedule to her. In addition, the superintendent spent some time discussing the reading support program, for students who need additional help with their reading. Segerdahl also described the program's newest addition, added this summer, which is a math support program. Whereas in one of ordinary math or reading classes, there may be an average of 25 students to a room, in the support class, there are never more than eight students.

The Summer YES Program is under the direction of the elementary school principals and certified teachers and specially trained staff lead the classes, while high school students serve as group leaders and counselors for the children. This provides high school students the opportunity to earn some money over the summer as well as possibly leading them into a career in education.

As in the past, the YES Program, which only costs participants $3 has received a great response from parents, many of whom question why the program doesn't extend into August.

"I believe this is the way it's going to happen educationally," said Segerdahl of the program.