Summer Program Creates Payoffs

Four years ago, a group of 30 Boston and Cambridge high-school freshmen decided to forgo their next three summer vacations to hit the books at Harvard. According to a recent evaluation by a Kennedy School professor, their decision to do so has paid off.

The thirty students comprised the first cohort of the Crimson Summer Academy (CSA), a program initiated by former University President Lawrence H. Summers in the summer of 2004. Two members of those first thirty students now reside at Harvard as members of this year’s freshman class.

CSA aims to help talented lower-income high school students gain admission to selective colleges, according to CSA director Maxine Rodburg.

“Some of the schools the kids go to are incredibly tough—Crimson Summer Academy is a real sanctuary for some of them,” Rodburg said.

Christopher Avery, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, has been involved with evaluating the program from its inception. According to Avery’s research, 50 percent of the first class of students at the start of the program expected college to be their highest level of education. By the end of the third summer, 77 percent of the students expected to earn some type of graduate degree.

According to Avery, 56 percent of the original CSA class described themselves as more self-confident as a result of the program.

“The program has generally been a great success on all fronts, maybe even more successful than anyone had anticipated,” he said.

CSA participants stay at Harvard from Sunday night to Friday afternoon for five weeks during their first summer, with that number growing to six weeks in their second year and eight as they study at the summer school.

“I was exposed to the whole college life in high school, got to take classes at Harvard, and explore the campus resources and the class formats,” Ada H. Lio ’11, a CSA alum said. “Before joining the program I had no idea what to do before going to college because my parents didn’t go to college,” she added.

Each year, CSA accepts 30 high school freshmen. Students receive instruction from local teachers in their first two summers and receive free enrollment in Harvard Summer School courses in their third. In addition, students receive a weekly $200 stipend and a free laptop computer. Those who complete the program—as did all 30 members of the first CSA class—receive a $3,000 scholarship.

About 25 Harvard undergraduates are employed by the program each summer to act as mentors.

“Before I joined [CSA] I was in my freshman year, and I didn’t think Harvard could be one of my choices,” Lio said. “During the program I realized I wanted to be here.”

—Staff writer Arianna Markel can be reached at amarkel@fas.harvard.edu.