Grant Summary
$300,000 over 36 months to support Columbia University’s Center for American Studies and the Double Discovery Center to provide 45 rising seniors from New York City high schools with an academically rigorous, college-level program in the humanities. A one-week, non-residential orientation introduces students to campus resources and prepares them for the challenges of the seminar with short reading and writing assignments. Students then move on campus to engage in an intensive three-week summer seminar on the theme of “Freedom and Citizenship: Explorations in Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary Thought”. During the fall of their senior year, students collaborate on a civic engagement project. Given the upcoming presidential election, the program expects to focus on candidates’ policy positions in one or more areas and produce a website and video to disseminate their work.