LAURA J. NILES FOUNDATION, INC.
Summer on the Hill at Horace Mann
Summer on the Hill is an educational program established by the Horace Mann School, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, dedicated to nurturing gifted students whose socio-economic status keeps them from taking advantage of New York City’s varied academic resources. As the only New York City program recruiting public school children as early as second grade and working with them through the eighth grade, Summer on the Hill provides much needed support for New York City’s elementary school population.
The primary focus of the program is to develop the academic potential of talented students and help them gain admission to independent, parochial, and highly regarded public schools that will allow them to make the most of their intellectual gifts. The program supplements and enriches students’ current schooling with an intensive six-week summer session of academic courses that reinforces current academic requirements and anticipates the coursework students will take the following year.
During the school year, Summer on the Hill students also attend an eighteen-week Saturday session that combines rigorous coursework with the sort of personalized attention students may not find in their respective schools. For several years, the Laura J. Niles Foundation has provided financial assistance to the program’s administrators to help defray the operational costs associated with the implementation of this extraordinary program.
Additionally, the Foundation has supported the creation of a scholarship fund to ensure that Summer on the Hill students who have been awarded the opportunity to attend quality high schools not be precluded from doing so due by lack of financial resources. To date, this scholarship program has afforded more than thirty students the opportunity to advance their education beyond what might have otherwise been possible.
Also through the Foundation, interest in and ability to fund a new initiative, Summer on the Hill was able to institute a graduate tracking system to allow donors, faculty members and administrators to remain acquainted with the academic and personal progress of Horace Mann’s Summer on the Hill alumni.