Queensborough Summer Program for Children to Combine Sports, Academics

Queensborough Community College will host an open house in early May and another in June for a summer camp program at which northeast Queens children will not only play sports, but also practice reading, writing and arithmetic.

The Kids College Summer Academy will offer two sessions for children, grades one through eight, between June 29 and Aug. 19.

On May 7, the college will host an open house for parents and students to learn more about the summer program. A second open house will take place on June 4.

“Most camps have only sports, math or English,” said Douglaston’s Jacqueline Montgomery, director of Kids College and Personal Enrichment in Queensborough’s Continuing Education and Workforce Development department. “We have all three. It’s a wonderful trifecta. And we’re not a camp, we’re an academy.”

The academy’s first session runs from June 29 to July 29, while the second term will operate from Aug. 2 to 19. The programs are all hosted on Queensborough’s campus at 222-05 56th Ave. in Bayside.

Each day during the session, parents will have the choice to drop their children off at Queensborough from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Hours will be extended until 6 p.m. for parents who work later.

A majority of students in the program hail from Douglaston, Bayside, Little Neck and Flushing, Montgomery said. Last year, the academy served 200 local schoolchildren.

The program is primarily for students in grade school or middle school, but stand-alone classes for high school students are available.

Parents will have the opportunity to meet the academy’s soccer and tennis coaches as well as other members of its athletic program during the May 7 open house.

Parents will pay $2,025 for their children to attend the academy for eight weeks, Montgomery said. Registration will remain open until June 29, but parents who sign up their children before June 4 will get 10 percent off.

“We are really doing something different,” said Darlene O’Rourke, marketing assistant for the academy. “Most summer programs are camps. But ours has the academic component.”

Participating students will take enrichment classes in math, reading and writing on Mondays and Wednesdays and play sports, such as soccer and tennis, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“We have a great schedule,” Montgomery said. “We want to prevent the summer learning loss from happening.”

This year, the academy has added an anti-bullying component. The 2011 theme for the program focuses on the diversity of Queens.

The summer academy is also partnering with the school’s Chinese Academy Kids College, allowing students from both groups to participate with each other in activities.

For more information, call 718-631-6343 or visit the school’s website.