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An Opportunity of a Lifetime: the Summer Science Program Free to Local Students

Posted on: Friday, 23 January 2009, 10:00 CST

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Some top local high school juniors will be getting an educational opportunity of a lifetime for free this summer.

Thanks to a grant from the Ahmanson Foundation and financial support from alumni, The Summer Science Program (SSP) will be offering free tuition to eligible Los Angeles County students who are either from an ethnic group under-represented in science or from an economically disadvantaged family. Others may qualify for generous, need-based financial aid. SSP encourages high school juniors of all backgrounds to apply.

One of the oldest and most successful research-based pre-college programs, for 50 years SSP has inspired students to pursue not only careers in science, but also to be science leaders and advocates. High school students enter the program with a keen interest in science and leave with the embodiment of really being a scientist.

Los Angeles area science teachers, counselors, potential applicants and their parents are invited to an SSP Information Night on January 27, at 7 pm at Griffith Observatory. This is a free event, but registration is required through the SSP website, www.summerscience.org. The website also offers complete details about SSP, the tuition waiver program for LA County residents, and an online application.

Dr. E. C. Krupp, Director of Griffith Observatory, himself an SSP alumnus, says, "SSP remains the most academically cohesive and intense educational experience I have ever had...If it weren't for SSP my vision would be narrower, my aspirations less ambitious, and my life less rich."

Mr. Franklin Antonio, co-founder of Qualcomm, SSP alumnus and major benefactor notes, "Top students in math and science still have academic needs that our high schools cannot satisfy. SSP puts kids together with real scientists for a summer. They're treated like academic adults for the first time in their lives, in total immersion. There's absolutely nothing else like SSP and I'm happy to be able to support it."

SSP is a six-week residential enrichment program in which small teams of gifted high school students apply physics, calculus, and programming to calculate the orbit of a near-earth asteroid - and the chances it might collide with earth someday. It is held on campuses in Socorro, New Mexico, and Ojai, California. Bright teenagers from around the world come to SSP to spend their days in college-level lectures and their nights doing hands-on astronomical research. Guest lectures from prominent scientists (many of whom are themselves alumni) and field trips to places like the Very Large Array of radio telescopes and NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab round out the curriculum.

Students describe SSP as an intense, stimulating, intellectual and social environment, "the educational experience of a lifetime." Emphasis is on teamwork and cooperation; neither grades nor formal credit are given. Enrollment is limited to 72 students (36 per campus), and eight faculty members live on-site with the students at each campus. Current juniors are eligible to apply; applicants should have completed trigonometry and preferably have taken some calculus. The application deadline for Summer 2009 is March 20th.

"We are very thankful to The Ahmanson Foundation for this grant that allows us to make SSP more accessible to students than ever before. We want students of all backgrounds who share a love of science and math to consider dedicating their summer to living the life of a scientist at SSP," urges Eric Korevaar, President of SSP.

The Ahmanson Foundation is a private, philanthropic foundation established on the principle of building the community of Los Angeles for the common good and achieves this through funding education at all levels, cultural projects in the arts and humanities, health care, programs related to homelessness, underserved populations and a wide range of human services. By funding the SSP tuition waiver, the Foundation strives to enhance the quality of life and cultural legacy of Los Angeles.

The Summer Science Program is an independent non-profit corporation, managed and largely funded by its own alumni. Additional support comes from government and institutional donors including the State of New Mexico, New Mexico Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Lockheed Martin / Sandia National Laboratory, and Qualcomm, Inc.

SSP does not discriminate in admissions or hiring on the basis of gender, race, color, citizenship, residence or national or ethnic origin, or on the basis of application for financial aid.

Contacts: Richard Bowdon SSP '74, Executive Director, (919) 439-7759, rbowdon@ssp.org, or Dr. Susan Jerian SSP '79, Trustee, (818) 687-0868, sjerian@ssp.org

SOURCE Summer Science Program

Source: PR Newswire

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