First day of 'Summer Rising' kicks off for students in New York City

Students in New York City may be on summer break -- but a unique combination of summer school and summer camp kicked off Tuesday for more than 100,000 students.

The Summer Rising program is back in full force after some concerns that it would be brought down by budget cuts.

New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks was at MS 210 in Ozone Park on Tuesday to help kick off the summer season of learning.

The program is held across the five boroughs and the days consist of academics in the morning and then activities in the afternoon with community-based organizations.

There were concerns heading into the summer about what the program would look like after the city made some cuts, blaming the asylum seeker crisis and the pandemic.

But, the money was restored to allow the program, which costs $350 million to operate, to run fully.

More and more students are applying each year to participate. This summer session, out of 138,000 students that applied, 110,000 got in.

"The city is your classroom and the whole world lives here and some of the best learning happens outside the four walls of the school, and so they're going to take plenty of trips, they're going to do a lot of hands-on experiential learning and that is how the minds of young people get developed, they have to learn by doing and by being engaged," Banks said.

For the first time since it began in 2021 under the De Blasio administration, the Department of Education will cover its roughly $80 million portion of the tab.

The program is held in public schools across the city. Students will have off for the 4th of July holiday.

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