Red Hook Central School District

For three weeks each summer, Red Hook High School students have access to free special programs that mix college preparation with niche-interest education.

The Summer Academy, which was launched in 2016, is organized by the Office of Curriculum and Instruction with funding from the Red Hook Education Foundation and The Ascienzo Foundation. It’s held each July and open to any student who, the previous month, completed grades 8-12. The Academy classes are one week long, for two-hours a day, with three class periods each day. Students can sign up for as many classes as their schedules allow, and many sign up for multiple offerings.

Each spring, the Office of Curriculum and Instruction issues a brochure with the varied offerings for that summer, which generally number upwards of two dozen. As long as enough students sign up for a particular class, it will be held.

While some of the classes are offered every year, the options also change from summer-to-summer. The more unique classes in recent years include “Paint-A-Shoe,” “Escape Room Adventures,” “Clock and Watchmaking,” and "Robotics.” Others, like “Filmmaking,” “Graphic Novel,” and “Wild Biology,” built on existing classes during the school year.

College Essay is typically the most popular class. It was designed by Christine Griffin as an offshoot of a unit she originally taught in one of her English classes. Each of the students receive a packet curated by Griffin, which includes the list of essay prompts, a collection of “killer first sentences,” examples of good and bad essays, and other reference materials. 

The class begins the first day of the week with a group discussion. Griffin reviews good and bad examples, as well the prompts themselves, pointing out the importance of choosing the proper prompt. The teacher also helps students brainstorm topic ideas and then, as the writing process evolves, make the connection needed in any of the essay prompts between the story the student chose to tell and what they learned as a result. By week’s end, the biggest hurdle tends to be editing down the piece to the 650-word limit.

Griffin attributes the popularity of the class to the students knowing “at the end of the week, they’ll have something done in hand.”

Another popular class results in something done in hand – or in stomach – at the end of each day. Culinary Camp gives students a chance to learn a variety of cooking techniques and get hands-on with creating delicious food from scratch.

Christina Annunziata taught the 2025 version of the camp. She pointed out, while a class like Culinary Camp may not be part of a college application process or SAT preparation, it arms students with life skills.

“You may not remember my name in 10 years but when you’re in college dorm room or apartment one day, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I know the ratio to rice, that lady in the summer taught me. Oh, I know how to make a vinaigrette!’” she said. “I just want them to take away one thing a day. If they do that, I feel like I served my purpose here.”