School is out for summer, but for thousands of children, Summer Rising is about to be in session.

“I'm more than ready for Summer Rising. You know, we've been doing it now for a few years. Hundred and ten thousand kids. Parents are knocking down the doors. And the kids are really excited about Summer Rising,” Schools Chancellor David Banks told NY1 last week.

What You Need To Know

  • The summer program combines academics and camp-like enrichment activities

  • It runs this year from July 2 to Aug. 16 for elementary schoolers and Aug. 9 for middle schoolers

  • About 139,000 students applied for 110,000 seats

Summer Rising was launched by the de Blasio administration in 2021, using federal pandemic relief funding and aimed at helping kids catch up after many experienced learning loss during school closures. 

But it’s proved so popular that it has stuck around, with the Adams administration committing city cash to pay for it, replacing expiring federal dollars. Demand has continued to outpace availability: this year, 139,000 families submitted applications for 110,000 seats.

Held in public schools across the five boroughs, the program combines academics, taught by public school teachers in the mornings, with fun, camp-like enrichment activities, run by community-based organizations in the afternoons.

“It’s not like, I think, when I went to school, and we would say, ‘Oh gosh, you got to go to summer school,’” Banks said. “Summer Rising is very different. It’s a lot of fun. The academic programs are fun. And then they have all these community-based organizations, where the kids are doing art and music and taking trips and going all over and making New York City their classroom.”

The program runs daily from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., from July 2 through Aug. 16 for elementary schoolers and through Aug. 9 for middle schoolers.