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ChatGPT in Education: Part 1

February 9, 2023 Leave a Comment

In recent years, advancements in artificial intelligence and natural language processing have led to the development of ChatGPT, or Conversational Generative Pre-trained Transformer. This technology, developed by Open AI (with funding from Elon Musk) has been used for a variety of purposes, from creating automated customer service agents to generating personalized responses to text messages, and now it is making its way into education.

For students looking for a virtual tutor, ChatGPT may seem like a miracle. The tool is free and available 24/7. It is able to provide personalized instruction, depending on the student’s needs and interests, with the ability to remember what students have asked it in past sessions. Complex answers can even be reworded as simplified summaries, and because ChatGPT is interactive, it can help improve students’ retention of information.

While ChatGPT has the potential to be used to augment analog study habits and improve students’ learning, it also brings with it ethical considerations and potential risks. Besides the potential for its use as a tool for cheating, other drawbacks include the watering down of children’s educational experiences, privacy concerns, and the accidental circulation of bad information.

The most obvious concern educators and parents have about ChatGPT is the possibility of the software being used for students to cheat on tests or assignments. This type of cheating could be especially effective for tests or assignments that are open-ended, such as essays or problem-solving questions. The way it works is shockingly simple: a student can ask ChatGPT a specific question from the test, and it will generate a response that is similar to what a human would say. The student can select the correct length of the response, choose a specific language model, and adjust how often certain words are allowed to repeat.

To the untrained eye, the response from ChatGPT (which is nearly instantaneous) can look like competent (though not genius) writing. ChatGPT tends to give general answers to prompts and is prone to circular reasoning. But for cheaters, decent is good enough.

Fortunately, schools can use plagiarism detection tools to scan student work, proctoring exams, and utilizing software that can detect suspicious activity on school networks. New York City has banned ChatGPT from being used by students. Some schools have invested in software that can be used to detect if a student is taking an abnormally short amount of time to answer a question or if the same answer is given multiple times. If the software flags any suspicious activity, the teacher can then investigate the situation further.

Another strategy is to use software that is able to detect AI plagiarism itself. Software developed by the same company who created ChatGPT is able to guess with reasonable accuracy whether a text was created by a machine. Other programs, like Turnitin, scan text against a database of previously submitted answers, and if the software finds a match, then the student is flagged for plagiarism. Teachers can also use everyday tricks in Google Docs or Microsoft Word to track changes and detect how long a document has been open or whether blocks of text have been copied and pasted. If the software detects that the student is using a computer to generate or copy answers, the teacher can then investigate the situation further.

But beyond cheating there are other ethical issues around AI that educators are currently struggling to answer.

One concern is that the use of ChatGPT could lead to issues of bias and inaccuracy. As with any AI system, ChatGPT is only as accurate as the data it is fed. If the data used to train the system is biased or inaccurate in any way, then this could lead to the generation of inaccurate or biased responses. This could lead to students being misinformed or receiving incorrect advice, which could have serious consequences for their learning and their future.

Another ethical issue surrounding ChatGPT is the potential for automation to replace real-life teachers and teaching assistants. While AI technology can be used to provide personalized responses to student queries and help guide their learning, it may also lead to a greater reliance on automated systems and less face-to-face interaction with teachers and other human support staff, who are able to use emotional intelligence and what they know about the students to adjust their learning in real time. This replacement of humans with machines could lead to a decrease in the quality of education and a decrease in the quality of human connection and support in the classroom.

Finally, ChatGPT could lead to issues of privacy and confidentiality. ChatGPT systems can store vast amounts of data about students and their learning habits, and this data could be used for a variety of purposes, from providing targeted advertising to creating detailed student profiles. These profiles could be used to create personalized learning experiences, but could also be used to manipulate students and their learning habits.

Now a small confession: This essay was written by ChatGPT. Using answers from a combination of four prompts and minimal editing to create transitions between paragraphs, the authors were able to create this article in less than half the time it would have taken them to write it alone. While ChatGPT did the heavy lifting, the authors also added a few expressive phrases, e.g. “shockingly simple” and deleted repetitions that might have given away that a machine had generated the text. Specific examples were added to provide more evidence of ChatGPT’s claims. Does knowing this change how you view this piece of writing? Does it make it less useful or invalidate its arguments?

To find out how educators can work with ChatGPT instead of ignoring or banning it, click here to read part 2 (written and edited entirely by humans).

By Brad Hoffman and Faya Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planners, in collaboration with My Learning Springboard faculty members

ChatGPT in Education: Part 2

February 9, 2023 Leave a Comment

In part one of this article, we laid out the basics of ChatGPT, the new AI technology that can mimic writing in many formats, including analytical essays, presentations, and even Shakespearean sonnets. The release of ChatGPT has been causing celebration among students and alarm among teachers because of its ability to facilitate plagiarism. Some educators have been quick to adopt technical solutions to this problem, which we touched on in the first half of this series, but others are thinking more critically about how ChatGPT can be incorporated into their syllabi with positive results. And still other teachers wonder whether ChatGPT is a problem in its own right or the symptom of deeper issues in education today.

Some educators have embraced a return to old-fashioned, in person essays after years of take-home exams. In an article in the New York Times, educators revealed plans to change academic integrity statements to ban the tech, increase the use of oral presentations, and require students to write first drafts by hand. Notably, some universities, like Oxford and Cambridge, never departed from this low-tech model. Students’ entire grades for the year are determined by a grueling series of in-person essays and exams taken at the end of the year.

Few students or educators wish to go back to the era of quill and ink, instead preferring to come up with ways to incorporate the new technology where possible and confident in their abilities to detect its use when it is not allowed. ChatGPT may produce plausible answers that could earn middling grades, but its responses often lack evidence of higher order thinking. In an informal poll of five educators we spoke with, each claimed that they didn’t need software to detect ChatGPT because they were familiar with their students’ abilities and voices.

“ChatGPT will never replicate the charm and syntax of an undergraduate paper where the student has neither been to class nor read more than the abstract of a paper,” wrote columnist Vicky Mochama in a satirical tweet that has gone viral among educators. “There’s a magic nothingness that they’re able to conjure with sheer grit and desperation that a.i. could never,” she added.

Andrew Moroni, an English teacher at an independent high school in Manhattan, recently appeared in a video for Wired in which he graded a series of increasingly complex assignments turned in by ChatGPT, with surprising results. Essays were often perfunctory and poorly argued, he said, but he found a Shakespearean sonnet about Taco Bell to be extremely compelling.

“I also wrote a Shakespearean sonnet about Taco Bell once,” he admitted, “but I think this one is better.”

Still, Moroni came away from the experience feeling that ChatGPT is proficient at some tasks, but still has many weaknesses in areas of internal cohesion, use of evidence, and making connections between thesis and body paragraphs.

However, Moroni sees these shortcomings as benefits to the technology, as many of his students are reluctant to revise their work–in part because it feels like an innate expression of themselves.

“One thing that is very useful about ChatGPT is its potential to be used as a tool for teaching students how to revise,” he says.

In a recent lesson on Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Moroni projected a reading response to the assigned section of the text and asked students how it could be improved. Many, he reported, were more willing to rework this AI-generated material than if they had written it themselves.

Likewise, in the field of computer science, where AI has been predicted to replace human coders, engineers and instructors are using ChatGPT to check their code against the machine’s. As Chris Stokel-Walker writes in a recent article for Lead Dev, developers shouldn’t yet depend on AI to write code for them, but they can use it to answer certain technical queries or act as a sound-board that can help eliminate wrong answers.

To combat the inappropriate use of ChatGPT, some educators argue that schools must confront why students are tempted to cheat in the first place by making clear the differences between what they write and what ChatGPT spits out.

“In my writing classes, we learn how to locate, evaluate, and understand sources of good information about any topic,” writes Jordan S. Carroll, assistant professor of English at the University of Puget Sound, in an article for The Nation. “Just as importantly,” he argues, “students come to see scholarly inquiry as a collective project dedicated to improving our shared understanding of the world.” For Carroll, if students recognize that learning is a shared endeavor toward building collective knowledge rather than a piece of busy work, they are much less likely to cheat, regardless of the means.

By the same token, educators should also provide tutoring and other academic support to students who are struggling, argues Rebecca Awdry in a recent column for The Guardian about the rise of outsourcing writing assignments. Increased support helps students feel more comfortable asking for help when needed and less likely to resort to cheating. And just as they did before AI, schools must provide students with clear consequences for cheating to deter the use of AI or any other kind of plagiarism. This will help them understand the seriousness of cheating and the negative impact it can have on their academic and professional lives.

For some educators, ChatGPT isn’t the problem so much as the symptom of how instrumentalized education has become in the 21st century. If students believe that writing (or completing any kind of assignment) is just a task they need to do in order to get a grade, and ultimately a job, then they will be more tempted to cheat. As author Malcolm Harris argues in Kids These Days, college students are increasingly seeing their degrees as their only tickets to well-paying careers. Harris believes this way of thinking is a product of increasing financial pressure (the huge debt many students take on, the extra jobs they work while attending school), as well as the ideology of many university administrations, who see students as customers and have lost sight of the notion that education is a public good.

ChatGPT-3 is not the first piece of tech to upend the way teachers assess writing, nor will it be the last. Already, Open AI is developing a new, improved version of the software, ChatGPT-4. Teachers are unlikely to win in an arms race against a technology funded by Elon Musk. Instead, universities and high schools need to create an environment that fosters not just academic integrity, but a genuine belief in the value of education as an end in itself.

By Brad Hoffman and Faya Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planners, in collaboration with My Learning Springboard faculty members

Unique Benefits: Therapeutic Wilderness Programs

January 30, 2023 Leave a Comment

Therapeutic wilderness programs are often seen as a last resort when other residential schools and treatment programs have not worked out. Many families are afraid that their child will not be able to adapt to living without the modern amenities they’ve grown accustomed to, won’t have access to sufficient clinical care, or will resent the parents for sending them away from home.

However, many young people stand to gain from a program that fosters healing and learning outside the classroom or therapist’s office. Self-sufficiency and confidence, emotional regulation, and communication skills are at the core of high quality therapeutic wilderness programs, and will be useful to students long after they return home. This summer, My Learning Springboard spoke with a group of expert educators at therapeutic wilderness programs across the United States—from Maine to Hawaii—to understand the unique benefits they offer and how to decide which program is the right fit for your family.

When it’s time to go

The biggest hurdle families face is deciding when a therapeutic wilderness program is necessary. Some will only consider a program once they have exhausted all local community and out-patient options. But Will White Co-Founder, Co-Owner, Director of Outreach at Summit Achievement, cautions that parents should not wait until “things are at a crisis level,” as few people think clearly during an emergency. “If things are getting worse or simply not progressing over time,” says White, “it may be time to consider a wilderness therapy program.”

Understanding the different types of programs

Therapeutic wilderness programs come in all shapes and sizes. Some follow a “nomadic” model, in which staff and students hike and camp over a set route for the duration of the program. Others offer a so-called “primitive” model that encourages teens to take accountability for themselves through the learning of basic survival skills. However, Kelly Webster, Admissions Director of True North, makes clear that just because these programs are called “primitive” doesn’t mean they are unsafe. All top therapeutic wilderness programs are “tailored to be just right—top of the line gear, appropriate hikes, beautiful terrain, emotional support system.”

The third option is a “basecamp” model with students dividing time between a single campus and short forays throughout their stay. Open Sky’s Admissions Director, Tere Snodgrass, thinks the base camp model is best for their participants because it “follows a trauma-informed approach, so students always have a safe, familiar place to return to after having gone ‘on expo’ to challenge themselves, learn, and experiment with new skills.”

Each of these options has its own set of benefits and challenges, and many therapeutic wilderness programs offer a blend of different models. The best way to determine which is right for your child is to first assess their physical and mental health needs. For example, if your child requires on-site counseling for substance abuse or the 24-hour presence of staff, a base camp model may be best. If your child lacks self-confidence, they may benefit from the physical challenge of a more adventurous experience offered by a nomadic program.

The final piece to consider is the therapeutic approach. Many of the adolescents enrolled in therapeutic wilderness programs have already tried one or multiple forms of therapy, often without success. Therefore, program staff are typically trained in multiple modalities: trauma-informed therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, and family systems theory. Talk with admissions about your child’s needs in order to tailor an approach that is right for them, but also be open to trying something new.

The role of parents

Many parents will have concerns about what effect this seemingly drastic step will have on their relationship with their child. Admissions directors and counselors at therapeutic wilderness programs often field questions like, “Will my child hate me forever if I do this?”

However, when many children arrive at a wilderness therapy program, “the relationship between parent and child has been pretty strained,” says Summit Achievement’s Will White. “Our staff understands the parent’s worry that this step might further this strain, however, in most cases, the intervention and separation actually provide the opportunity for healing.” The vast majority of families describe the experience as positive, with initial flashes of anger or resentment quickly changing to understanding.

Representatives from every program who spoke with My Learning Springboard agree that therapy will be successful only if the entire family is involved. For this reason, Kellyne Smith, Admissions Director of Pacific Quest believes that a “comprehensive parent curriculum” is essential. This program helps parents support students at each point of the journey, deal with common challenges, and offers parallel therapeutic assignments for families. To maintain the balance between independence and connection, Pacific Quest offers weekly letter writing, phone calls, and Zoom appointments with your child, along with communication with counselors and therapists. As the child continues their therapeutic development, parents will be brought in for family counseling sessions, as well as an onsite visit. These touch points help parents stay apprised of their child’s growth while also prompting them to reevaluate family dynamics and patterns that may be exacerbating issues at home.

Returning home

Wilderness therapy is effective in part because it removes adolescents from the triggers and stresses of everyday life and creates an opportunity for them to develop emotionally in a safe environment. But many parents wonder what happens when their child finishes the program and how to navigate that transition. Some students will return home directly from a program, but many others will attend either therapeutic boarding schools or more traditional boarding schools with outpatient programs or other mental health services added. But some parents wonder whether their child will be able to apply the lessons they’ve learned in a wilderness program once they get back in “the real world.”

“That some of the structural aspects of the program are ‘contrived’ do not make

them less powerful or less impactful,” says Mary Jo DeGrandi, Senior Director of Professional Relations at First Light Wilderness. “Students must navigate rainstorms, backpacking on challenging terrain, interacting and working together with peers, being vulnerable and reliant on strangers with the most raw parts of themselves,” she says. “Healthy communication, problem-solving, collaboration with others, rupturing and repairing relationships, facing emotional struggles head-on—these are real-life skills that ultimately help students grow healthier in relationship to themselves and with others, which is the basis for so many other aspects of success as young adults and in life.”

To discuss therapeutic wilderness programs or other interventions and school planning for your family, please contact our office.

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed and Board Certified Educational Planner, and Faya Hoffman, M.A. and Board Certified Educational Planner

Therapeutic Boarding Schools

January 27, 2023 Leave a Comment

For students who are experiencing mental health challenges that require specialized care in a residential school environment, therapeutic boarding schools can provide the more intensive and integrated support that they need. At therapeutic boarding schools, students are provided with tools to help them navigate difficult emotional experiences, build resilience, work with their families, and prepare for the next steps in their lives. These schools offer individualized programming and clinically-based treatment options to meet students’ needs in a holistic manner. For students who experience clinically significant anxiety, depression, PTSD, attachment disorder, and other mental health challenges where treatment from home with local providers has not been enough, therapeutic boarding schools can be a critical stepping stone on the path to recovery where educators, residential faculty, and clinicians – including psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists – work collaboratively as a multidisciplinary team in partnership with families. In this blog post, we talk to several administrators from therapeutic boarding schools across the United States to hear more about the specialized support these schools offer to students and their families.

Immersive Mental Healthcare

Therapeutic boarding schools allow for students to enter a rarified space that centers their healing. “Unlike traditional outpatient, a therapeutic boarding school or residential treatment center enables a young person to completely change their environment,” Tony Mosier, COO and Co-Founder of Telos Academy in Utah, explains, “For some, getting distance from toxic friends, strained family systems, and access to substances is key to healing. Families should consider a therapeutic program when outpatient efforts haven’t been enough, or when their child’s behavior has become too dangerous to risk continued treatment efforts in an unstructured setting.” In addition, therapeutic boarding schools can also be “stepping stones” for students who are finishing up a wilderness program or residential treatment program, advises Lisa Kimball, Admissions Director of The Grove School in Connecticut. “Therapeutic boarding schools create safe, intentional settings for students to receive a high level of support while also maintaining important aspects of their independence.”

Student Profiles

Therapeutic boarding schools generally specialize in certain areas of student need. Many schools work with students who experience anxiety, depression, ADHD, learning challenges, and issues with confidence. Schools may provide specialized support for students with high-functioning autism and substance issues. At Telos Academy, students who are most successful are generally those who are academically inclined but struggle in more traditional school settings. Mr. Mosier notes that students who are actively addicted to substances and working with aggression do not fit their profile. For students to succeed in the therapeutic boarding school setting, they need to invest in their own growth. As Ms. Kimball states, “Students need to come to Grove willingly with some level of investment in their continued work.”

Parental Involvement

While students live for most of the year at a therapeutic boarding school, parental involvement is key to their healing process. Therapeutic boarding schools require parents or caregivers to attend family therapy and trainings, and to be open to their own growth process. Both students and parents need to be engaged in the healing process while students are at therapeutic boarding schools and once they return. Jill McIntyre of Alpine Academy in Utah says, “Research shows that the key predictor of success for a student after leaving Alpine Academy is their parents’ willingness and ability to make personal, parenting, and family system changes.” Due to the relational nature of the therapeutic process, family dynamics and commitment have a tremendous impact on students in recovery. As Ms. Kimball explains, “We make it clear at the onset that the whole family is in treatment during their time at Grove.”

Social and Emotional Support

Therapeutic boarding schools design and implement specific, research-based practices to address students’ challenges. Their therapeutic modalities are employed in order to help students become more confident, self-regulated, and resilient. Mr. Mosier describes how, “Telos Academy has a deeply relational approach. Using an attachment-based model, we believe treating students with dignity and respect is fundamental to creating an environment safe enough to explore personal change.” Alpine Academy’s approach is based on individually applying the Teaching-Family Model alongside clinical work to help students work on their emotional and cognitive processes. Families can expect their students to engage in various therapies that are designed for their growth and wellbeing. Notably, therapeutic boarding schools will often make use of DBT strategies, but all of the excellent programs employ clinicians who are cross-trained in a variety of treatments, and they intentionally make use of more than one treatment approach.

Executive Functioning Skills

Many therapeutic boarding school students struggle with executive functioning, or mastering the skills necessary to plan and follow-through with their goals, tasks, and responsibilities. For this reason, therapeutic boarding schools offer extensive support and accountability with executive function skill building. Many therapeutic boarding schools offer 1:1 coaching with expert learning specialists or clinicians. At Telos Academy, students also learn executive functioning skills in “an adventure-based space simulator where they work as teams to solve problems as the “crew” of a spaceship,” says Mr. Mosier. This experience provides a vehicle for skill building that becomes generalized in other situations. As students build their executive functioning skills, they increase their metacognition, or, understanding of their own thought processes. With these tools and awareness, they are increasingly able to take responsibility for their daily tasks and to achieve their long-term goals.

College Readiness

Therapeutic boarding schools ensure that students are ready to both apply to and succeed in higher education, if that is their aim. Programs are designed to help students prepare for college both academically and emotionally, and some schools even offer high school students the chance to receive college credit at local universities. Therapeutic boarding schools offer structured support to help students achieve their educational goals. Ms. Rainer of Shortridge Academy in New Hampshire says that, “The students who fit our cognitive profile have typically been tracked as students who are headed for college, and our teachers have that in mind as they seek to build academic skills. The goal for all students academically is effective self-advocacy and cognitive proficiency in developing strong independent learning skills.” In effect, therapeutic boarding schools ready their students for the academic, emotional, and social elements of the college experience.

Life after Therapeutic Boarding Schools

Therapeutic boarding schools offer support so that students can generally resume their studies in more traditional learning spaces. These schools position themselves as transitional spaces for students to hone and develop important social, emotional, and academic skills before moving on to the next stage of their lives. Students will leave a therapeutic boarding school and move on to a traditional private or public school, boarding school, or higher education institution. Ms. Rainier of Shortridge Academy explains, “Our mission is to prepare students to return to traditional school environments, and academically we do that by building on strengths, and developing strong executive functioning and self-advocacy skills.”

Parental Concerns

Given their children’s emotional distress, parents may be hesitant to send their child away from home to a therapeutic boarding school. However, therapeutic boarding schools can be a necessary intervention. Mr. Mosier of Telos Academy states that, “Sometimes, paradoxically, true closeness can only come through a period of separation in which family members can discover who they are and what they value. Out-of-home placement is an extreme step, but it is well worth it if a child’s struggles are so acute their life is in danger.” The removal of students from their habitual lives can help facilitate their recovery. Furthermore, parents and students alike often come to a conclusion that additional support is necessary. Ms. Kimball of the Grove School reflects that, “Parents and students often say that while there may be fear, reluctance and sadness around this transition, there is also a shared sense of relief. Our students are looking to get back on their path and have goals that they want to work towards.” Though the transition may take work on the part of parents and their children, attending a therapeutic boarding school allows students to get the level of support that they need, so that they can continue on in their lives in a safe, connected, and healthy way.

If you’re interested in learning more about therapeutic boarding schools for your student, please contact our office for assistance.

By Brad Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, Faya Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, and Laurie Gross, Special Educator and Family Advocate.

Oxbridge New York and The Importance of Pre-College Summer Programs

January 4, 2023 Leave a Comment

50 kids, 12 staff members. A college dorm full of high school students, and a city alive again after two-plus years of Covid disruption. What kind of alchemy occurs when you add, after two vacant summers, people back into the asphalt and steel, gardens and rivers of New York City? When communal living demands of and offers you new routines and a way out of routines you haven’t thought about in years? With Oxbridge New York 2022 (a program that hadn’t run since 2019), as a staff member, I was part of an incredibly lucky group that got to stumble into answers to these questions. Housed at Barnard College, with Morningside Park on one side and Riverside Park (a wonder) and the Hudson immediately on the other, we began to explore the city in all its variety.

On a personal level, this summer position with Oxbridge New York was especially lucky for me, as I’d been trying to spend an extended period of time in NYC since I myself was in high school. Five weeks in the city is enough time, thankfully, to begin to feel a rhythm of subway and building and avenue, to find a few (or more than a few) dreams made real. Such an experience on its own is a gift, but to have this experience post-Covid and with a group of students who happened to be some of the kindest, most enthusiastic people I’ve ever met meant that New York City would be the setting for an emotional re-entry for all of us. I had forgotten what dorm life meant, the amount of things I could do in a day, what I was capable of. I didn’t want to share a bathroom, adjust to the minimal space of a dorm room, or be stuck with the use of one fridge five floors down. The thought made me anxious. I was afraid of the NYC subway. By the end of the program, I would miss, dearly, (almost) all of these features of my New York experience. A beautiful irony that the shrinking of amenities could open up a world. We are always, always more adaptable than we think.

Games with the students and colleagues in the program office during sign-in time (10-11 pm every night) became one of my favorite parts of my Program Dean role. Black Magic, Mafia, other camp games on the floor in a circle, or Just Dance on the wall-mounted TV (yes, 11 pm is too late for the adrenaline of Just Dance at the volume they wanted it in the office, but the easy elation of these kids who’ve had two years of high school taken from them made it just right). I got to teach them a hip hop class; I had the chance to introduce them to yin yoga. On a day off work, I was able to jump on the 1 train to Times Square and take a class at Broadway Dance Center—fulfilling a decades-old bucket list item of mine. The kids gravitated to 42nd Street at every chance they got: to be sixteen and say, “We’re just going out for dinner in Times Square”! The headiness of it in their voices reminded us to do the same when we could. Central Park astounded us all on different days at different spots. It took me the full month to find that Central Park South (the Mall, the artists, the plaza) was what I’d been looking for the whole time. When the students weren’t immersed in the city, they were taking class (Oxbridge New York is an academics-heavy summer program). They studied business, creative writing, musical theater, photography, fashion, more. But more often than not, their classes drew them to the city’s wonders, too, at the Met, the MoMA, Ground Zero, the Whitney, the Guggenheim. Magnolia Bakery, of course.

Then there were the dreamy days I couldn’t have ever anticipated. I think this must happen more often in New York City than anywhere else, simply by virtue of the fact that the city itself is like a dreamscape; its overabundance gives you more on any given day than you could hope for. Its layers on layers of narratives (fictional, cultural, historical) mean that the city holds places in your heart you didn’t even realize. We took the students to Coney Island—a standout day from the trip. Between cinematic subway rides (the Brooklyn Bridge from the windows at sunset), we all discovered a place we didn’t know we’d been waiting for. The ocean, the rides, the kids sticky from soda and soft-serve. The boardwalk, the hot dogs, and enough roller coasters to make them happily sick to their stomachs on the walk back to our meeting spot at Nathan’s. All of them smiling or sleeping on the return subway — sunburnt, exhausted, and satiated. A perfect oversaturation.

During the last week of the program, I got to take a group of students to Aladdin on Broadway. Initially annoyed that this, out of all options, was the show they had chosen, I was met once again by the full force of NYC magic during a show that was so spectacular with people who were so ecstatic to be there. We waited outside the theater doors after the show and met the actors, then headed to Junior’s for reubens and cheesecake.

Brooklyn again proved full of its own treasures on our Smorgasburg day (the US’s largest weekly outdoor food festival). After an epic journey through hibiscus doughnuts, juice held in a watermelon, chicken kebabs, and a view of Manhattan to drop the jaw, we found the real-life library from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

That all of this and more happened in a span of five weeks is still surreal to me. Especially so after Covid. I know this take is colored by the fact that I had a finite amount of time there, that I was part of a pre-packaged experience and a temporary, built-in community. Nor was the community perfect. Did we have a couple meetings with the purpose of scolding the kids back into respectful living? Did we argue amongst ourselves and shake our heads at administrative imperfections? Yes, and sometimes, and way more than once. But the gorgeous paradox of New York City is that it is as much fantasy and confection as it is hard reality. I can’t think of another city where the two are so thoroughly enmeshed. “I just love getting in my bed every night,” a student remarked to me halfway through the month. “Even though it’s so small and it’s like the worst dorm room mattress, I’m so tired and happy from everything we did during the day. You know? It’s that ugly blanket and weird sheets? And I just love it.” I know the feeling exactly.

While my experience was focused on Oxbridge New York, it was a perfect reminder of just how valuable pre-college summer programs are for students. Taking full advantage of each of the three summers available before the college admissions process officially begins is critical for students’ growth and development. These adventures help our students to scaffold their transition to college and better understand what experiences they’re looking to have. Pre-college programs are a little like “restaurant week”; they provide opportunities to sample different learning environments, geography, and subject matter in order to better prioritize and ultimately commit to a “just right” college experience.

For further discussion about college counseling for your family, please contact our office.

By Jordi Rozenman, M.A., College Counselor and Private Tutor