Champions for Quality Education and Inner-City Scholarship Fund’s Continued Partnership with the Rye Nature Center
On Monday, August 21, Champions for Quality Education (Champions) and Inner-City Scholarship Fund (Inner-City) celebrated their continued partnership with the Rye Nature Center in Westchester. Five inner-city elementary schools within the Archdiocese of New York (ADNY)—Our Lady of Lourdes in Manhattan, Our Lady Queen of Angels in Manhattan, Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary in Manhattan, St. Philip Neri in the Bronx, and Our Lady of Victory in Westchester—sent a total of 80 students to a free nature immersion camp at the Rye Nature Center from August 21 through August 25.
During the camp, students explored nature that is often inaccessible in their neighborhoods. Specific activities included camping, bird watching, gardening, and nature walks. Champions and Inner-City were excited to expand this partnership this year, as five high school students from ADNY high schools served as counselors to the younger students.
Mary and Tom Julian, longtime residents of Rye, have been the lead supporters and donors to this program. Mary started the partnership in 2008 when she learned that one of her sponsored Inner-City students was going to be spending his summer in a homeless shelter. She sponsored him and dozens of other Inner-City Scholarship Fund students to attend the camp.
About Inner-City Scholarship Fund — Founded in 1971, Inner-City Scholarship Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing access to a high-quality Catholic education in the Archdiocese of New York. Inner-City currently supports over 8,000 elementary and high school students of all faiths in some of our poorest neighborhoods. Despite the fact that 72% of students live at or below the federal poverty level, an impressive 99% percent of seniors graduate and 98% are accepted to college. Inner-City helps students build a foundation for a bright future.