The Counselor-In-Training Program (CIT) at The Quad Manhattan Summer Program is designed for teens and tweens to gain valuable mentoring experience while exploring internship-like projects within their specific talent domains. Specialty classes in talent development with the group consist of longer sessions to hone in on extended project and portfolio development while also gaining 1:1 opportunities with talent experts. "Core" psychosocial/emotional regulation concepts are integrated into talent classes for older students who know what they would like to focus on most. Additionally, executive functioning skills like project management, kitchen autonomy skills, and more are built into the CIT program to help students gain living skills to bring to middle and high school.

 

Children will be grouped with their best social cognitive peer matches and build their schedules according to the classes they love most. Students will also participate in summer-long adapted Enrichment Cluster projects, chosen by them.

​

Course Catalogue

Music: Learn about music culture, composition, and following your soul. Available group or individual instrumental lessons can be discussed on a case-by-case basis. 

 

Fine Arts: Experts will help guide students in developing artistic talent through various artistic mediums. Students can study the history of art and the techniques, materials, and subject matter of professional artists.​ In Quad Studio, use the techniques and materials that you have learned to create self-driven works of art. 

 

Capoeira: A Brazilian martial art that combines dance, acrobatics, and music. This course is tiered to level of experience for students who are returning from last summer. The introductory Capoeira course focuses on the basics, the culture and history of Capoeira, and introduction to the music which is a large part of the sport. Students will learn to read body language and pay attention to their own in order to have non verbal communication with peers. For the more experienced teens, there will be opportunity to begin approaching more skilled techniques and acrobatics, pushing the full potential of each participant. 

 

Theater: 

• Improv games: Channel your inner actor through improv games and various forms of creative expression. 

• Quad Playhouse: Write and produce an original Quad play, musical, or show, exploring how to organize, plan, and execute as a team to ensure that the show does go on! 

 

Book Club: Love reading, but don’t want to stop and talk about character development all day? Read the books you love with other kids and teens who love them too! Genres range from sci-fi, biographies, and historical fiction to research and explore together while utilizing fully scaffolded, strong, communication skills and executive functioning to meet deadlines and time management needs. 

 

Technology: Let’s do some engineering, videogame creation and coding, robotics, 3D design, and tinkering:

• Engineering for Invention: Every kid's a dreamer, a designer, a creator... an inventor! Every few days is a new building project; toys, bridges, homemade video game controllers, secret circuit note cards, wearable fashion electronics, a graphite flashlight, and more! The goal of this course is all about bringing our imagination to life! Engineers will earn Challenge Badges for new skills in electrical and mechanical engineering, persistence, cooperation, problem-solving, physics, circuitry, Design Thinking, and ChangeMaking... let’s make a world that’s better for everybody!

• Minecraft Modding with Javascript: Young designer and programmers will have the opportunity to modify both the aesthetics and operation of Minecraft with our custom educational version of Minecraft. Through the creation of these mods, younger students will have an opportunity to fully express their artistic abilities through their design choices, while also having an opportunity to gain a basic understanding of programming principles. Alternately, older students, while also enjoying the freedoms of artistic expression, will be able to hone their programing skills by creating Javascripts that directly alter the behavior of what they create in Minecraft. During this process students will have the opportunity build skills in collaboration, communication, and digital citizenship as they share their knowledge and creativity with others in their class. With MakerState’s help, students can turn modifying Minecraft into an interest in the arts and practical knowledge for today's technology.

• Arduino Coding with the MBot Robot: Young engineers will build their own robot and learn to code it with the mBot Robot Kit! This fun combination of hardware and software design features robot challenges such as maze games and bot battles, and culminates with a collaborative robot expo. Learning themes include mechanical engineering, circuitry, physics, robotics, and computer programming. The mBot features an Arduino brain, a microcontroller that is a fundamental computer component in robotics, the "Internet of Things", smart devices, and wearable electronics. Engineers will program the mBot, first in Scratch, a simple drag-and-drop, color-coded programming editor created by MIT to teach skills and concepts in programming, and advance into coding in Arduino, a C derivative, which is an industry-standard, real-word computer programming language. Engineers may also be able to explore Bluetooth capabilities, the use of sensors, and further customizations of their bot that they can take home to continue the playing, coding, and learning.

 

Culinary Arts: Work together to create delicious snacks and baked goods with learned culinary skills. This class is designed to make mastery in the kitchen accessible, social and fun. The program covers all of the skills students need to feel comfortable in the kitchen and prepare meals independently at home. The class will begin with basic techniques and work toward more complex dishes that are both healthy and delicious. Simple, step-by-step recipes help students strengthen executive functioning skills and time management. Throughout the program, students are asked to collaborate with class members, helping each other master techniques and complete recipes. At the end of each session, the class will shares what they've prepared and has an opportunity to connect, nourish new friendships and practice social skills.

 

Animation and Filmmaking: Make a stop motion film, learn filming and editing techniques, and get creative!​

Students can work as a team to produce a series of scenes that allow them to be a Director, Scriptwriter, Cameraman (woman), Actor (Actress) and/or an Editor. Students can rotate among these principal film crew positions. Writing will focus on story, theme, character, tension, and conflict. Individual projects in Stop-Motion and animation can also be explored based on student interest.

 

Strategy Games: Play Dungeons & Dragons, a fantasy RPG of swords & sorcery. Players think creatively and work as a team to overcome challenges, solve mysteries, complete quests, and acquire treasure and glory. Together, tell an epic story of heroism and friendship.

 

• Intermediate players: are often able to make the connection between D&D and the video games it has inspired, will often be familiar with the basic ideas and themes behind the foundation and operations of the game, if not the rules, before play begins. The focus remains on interpersonal play, but with a higher level of interaction between the students and the empathic strategy at the core of the gameplay. Students will be asked to problem-solve and work together to overcome challenges, with epic rewards (and responsibility) for their characters.

• Veteran level and highly experienced players: will be challenged by D&D to "think outside the box" and adopt new styles of creative thinking, both in dealing with fellow players and with the sometimes unpredictable dynamics of the game. Players will get to pursue high-level storytelling options, driving the narrative and confronting the questions of which makes the experience extremely fun. This level will focus on higher order thinking regarding game design theory.

​