Bill Gellman, Executive Director of Sewickley Academy's Summerbridge Pittsburgh, sent the following letter to Senior School faculty at Sewickley Academy. Mr. Gellman highlights Xiaozhou Fan's (2009 ASSIST Scholar) impressive involvement in Summerbridge Pittsburgh, an academic and cultural enrichment summer program offered to middle school and high school students facing limited opportunities.
Dear Senior School faculty,
Saturday April 18th represented one of the last dates for Summerbridge's spring 2009 school-year programming and Sewickley Academy Senior School student, Xiaozhou Fan, was one of the featured program participants.
After a one hour SAT workshop, presented by Kaplan, Inc., the thirty students in attendance were divided into two groups. Half of the students were treated to a presentation about Chinese culture and language, given by Xiaozhou, while the other half
proceeded to the kitchen area, where they learned about authentic Mexican cooking. Later, it was Xiaozhou's turn in the kitchen, and she cooked up a storm, while the other half of the students attended a presentation on Mexican culture and traditions.
I was impressed and delighted that Xiaozhou participated. She is a wonderful young woman, and the Summerbridge students peppered her with questions about her homeland and it's rich history and cuisine. She did a marvelous job with her presentation(s).
Lastly, I want to thank Tiffany Craig who organized the event. Tiffany has done a nice job with Saturday programming this semester, engaging our students with a nice mixture of academic enrichment in the morning, followed by cultural enrichment in the afternoon. Our Saturday programming runs from 10 am - 2 pm, although this past Saturday we were so busy that we kept the kids until about 2:30. The event, as with all our Saturday programming, was graciously hosted by Allegheny Center Alliance Church, which provides us with an entire floor of space in the Union Building behind the church (801 Union Ave.). This Saturday, they also allowed us to use their kitchen, located in their main building (250 East Ohio Street) on Pittsburgh's North.
Once again, kudos to Xiaozhou and Tiffany for their efforts.
Regards,
Bill Gellman
Summerbridge Pittsburgh
Sewickley Academy
