“We’re not here to take kids out of the private sector,” Kavaney says.

This goal of enriching public education has not waned over time, she says—particularly given the ongoing problems of the ailing Cambridge public school system, which despite high levels of funding fields some of the worst test scores in the state.

The debate over what to do with Cambridge’s schools has become one of the hottest topics in city politics, particularly this year when the Cambridge School Committee passed a controversial plan to consolidate several elementary schools.

Kavaney says keeping people aware of the program through the controversy has been hard.

Satisfying public demands for higher test scores while avoiding “teaching to the test,” will be a challenge for the program and its instructors, she says, but one Summerbridge will surely have to face in the coming years.

Community Time

When lunch ends, students and their teachers take seats in the auditorium for “community meeting,” a daily afternoon assembly during which students gather to discuss news within the program and to share their talents.

A series of groups have prepared presentations to kick off the afternoon. The Summerbridge math department presents a Captain Math skit.

“Captain Math, he’s our hero—gonna take confusion down to zero!” they chant together as one of the teachers struts across the stage in a red cape.

“Remember,” the superhero intones in a dramatic baritone, fists resting on his hips, “math is yours.”

Next, a pair of students present a poster they have made, an image of the American flag with collages of the nation’s “pros” and “cons” fitted among the red stripes.

Another student beats an intricate sequence of fleeting rhythms on three pots and pans. His toes bounce up and down as he plays, and he shifts the arrangement of the impromptu instruments to create new timbres. The audience cheers.

Pasternack and another teacher, dressed in costume hats, colorful sunglasses and oversized T-shirts, hold the stage as Spirit Girl and Spirit Boy and present the day’s Spirit Awards to two girls who had distinguished themselves in the classroom.

A skit performed by members of the teaching staff urges students to garner sponsors for the annual Summerbridge Walk-a-thon. The four “clusters” compete against each other, each aiming to bring $1,000 into the program.

The afternoon winds down with an “explorations” class—during which students pursue one of several non-academic offerings, such as public speaking or visual art—and a 50-minute “homework hut,” where they begin their two hours of nightly homework under their teachers’ supervision, allowing them pose questions lingering from the day’s classes.