A 10 foot by 12 foot shed built by hand from this year’s Chappaqua Summer Scholarship Program (CSSP) students will soon be used to help with storage needs at Horace Greeley High School as construction continues at the high school. The shed was built as a way to give thanks to the Chappaqua community for supporting the program, now in its 51st year. Each summer Chappaqua invites 22-24 promising students from under resourced schools in the Bronx to join the community. The program is made possible because Chappaqua families open their homes up to host these students.
Although none of the students are construction workers several donned hard hats and worked with hammers nailing together the floor, walls and roof. “Over the years, the Chappaqua Central School District has been incredibly supportive of our program. We wanted to give thanks and this shed was the perfect way to do so. Our Bronx CSSP students have had a great time building it and we are grateful four our teachers, Mike DeBellis and Chris Stasi for making this happen,” commented Ellen Adnopoz, the Executive Director of CSSP.
“This is something I would never do in the Bronx,” commented Brian Nunez, a second-year student in the program. For three consecutive years, these specially selected students like Brian attend academic classes at one of the Chappaqua schools in the mornings and participate in a range of recreational and cultural activities in the afternoon. The program which is entirely run by volunteers seeks to broaden the students’ horizons and also help prepare them for college.
The shed will remain on the HGHS campus indefinitely.
