bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Christy Choi

Every night when he was a teenager Xavier Chan Wing-tat washed minibuses.
Come rain or shine, with his parents, he tackled 10-15 buses a night, scrubbing off the day's grime, to make HK$4,000 a month to help support his younger brother and sister and supplement his father's meagre wage as a security guard.
Chan was a poor student, regularly scoring below average in tests. His English was stilted and he had to repeat grades because of poor performance.
His story is not uncommon among the graduates of Summerbridge, an educational immersion course for underprivileged youth that celebrates its 20th anniversary today with a ceremony at Island School.
To date, 2,500 local students and 1,000 student teachers have taken part in Summerbridge programmes. Over the past decade it has developed from an organisation providing five-week intensive summer programmes to one that provides year-around educational support for underprivileged students.
About 300 students take part each year, with an annual intake of 150 students.
"If I had not joined Summerbridge I could have become marginalised," Chan said. "I was about to give up. I wasn't following the school schedule. I kept trying, and kept failing."
Chan, 29, is now a graduate social work student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and before that he worked as a teacher's assistant, teacher and dean of students at Summerbridge for almost 11 years.
Started in 1992 by American philanthropist Charles Feeney, Summerbridge is based on a model begun in San Francisco in 1978. In Hong Kong it is supported by corporate sponsors and individuals such as Legislative Council President Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, tycoon Lee Shau-kee and his granddaughter-in-law, model-turned-philanthropist Cathy Lee Chui Chi-kei.
Unlike the rote-learning, exam-oriented education system of regular schools, "it's OK to make mistakes at Summerbridge", Chan said.
The atmosphere during the five-week summer immersion sessions is like a camp, with classes in balloon-making, photography and music, sports, field trips to Tsim Sha Tsui to interview tourists, crazy hair days and yelling silly chants.
"This is how we build up confidence, doing things we wouldn't do normally. They're a bit shy at first, but students get to be more united when yelling," said Carol Dawef Li Chau-ha, 32, a teacher at Kowloon Tong School (Secondary Section) and a former Summerbridge student.
When she attended the programme, Dawef's mother was out of a job, her father had cancer and the family was living on government welfare. She says she joined the programme because she had nothing better to do during the summer and crossing the harbour to a school in Mid-Levels sounded interesting.
"There was not much to do at home. I couldn't even afford a uniform; my only companion was a TV," she said.
"I didn't really feel comfortable at first. I was one of the kids who had the lowest standard of English. But I met people who worked at Gap and at HSBC.
"It opened my eyes to the kind of opportunities that were out there. I never imagined doing anything. But it made me think: I have to work hard to get to do what they do."
At Summerbridge, the teachers are also young, often not much older than the students themselves.
Kevin Wong Ho-man was just 17 when he started teaching the first of his four summer courses in 2003. "I never really saw myself as a teacher, more a mentor or an older brother," Wong said. "I think it helps with motivation that we're so close in age. They really want to get to know us, and often we can be warmer and have more time for them than their regular teachers.
"By the end they say very affirming things. I'd be at Duke [University in the US] during the school year talking to them on MSN and they would be telling me things like: 'My English marks have improved. I like helping others now, not just competing.'"
Graduates of the Summerbridge programme have gone on to become social workers, journalists, teachers, flight attendants and businesspeople.


Programme helps poor students excel

Cathy Lee (left) is a backer of Summerbridge, which helped Carol Dawef Li and Xavier Chan. Photos: Sam Tsang, May Tse

Cathy Lee (left) is a backer of Summerbridge, which helped Carol Dawef Li and Xavier Chan.Photos: Sam Tsang, May Tse

News

Hong Kong

Summerbridge programme helps poor students strive to excel with innovative techniques
