Don’t miss the Giglio lift

Celebrate the 129th Giglio Italian Festival beginning July 6 and running through July 17 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Williamsburg.

The traditional community feast honors Saint Paolino and features faith, food, music, neighborhood pride, history, colorful cultural celebrations, and international visitors. The festival is capped with 112 men lifting a four-ton tower during the “Dance of the Giglio.”

A special children’s lift is scheduled for July 7 at 6 pm (rain date is July 8). Fun for all ages.

The Giglio Festival, July 6 through July 17, Monday to Friday, 6 to 11 pm; Saturdays 6 pm to midnight; and Sundays noon to 11 pm. The event is free, but food, rides, artwork and activities have separate fees.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel [275 N. Eighth St. at Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg, (718) 384–0223].

Academics West

Academics West is an accredited high-support college preparatory school designed to meet the academic and social-emotional goals of its students. Our unique model allows for each student to benefit from a customized educational experience to ensure they are acquiring the skills necessary to navigate their post-secondary lives whether they attend college or pursue another path to future success. Students can select different tracks to construct the most beneficial program to suit their needs and goals. Unlike conventional education, this innovative model enables students to prepare for an ever-changing world that requires young people to have advanced executive functioning, interpersonal and leadership skills to become independent and resilient adults. &nbsp;

FlexSchool

Our mission is to provide an engaging&nbsp;learning experience in a supportive environment where students are free to explore their&nbsp;passions, embrace their challenges and find a community of teachers and friends who&nbsp;understand and accept them as they are. Academics: To meet the unique needs of gifted and 2e learners &ndash; students who may have co-occurring&nbsp;learning challenges along with their gifts &ndash; we provide a gifted-level curriculum with built-in&nbsp;scaffolding, developed by credentialed experts in both gifted education and special education,&nbsp;as well as subject-area experts. Small, discussion-based classes ensure our students can&nbsp;engage in stimulating conversation with intellectual peers while receiving individualized attention&nbsp;and support. Talent Development and Experiential Learning: Central to our program is our strengths-based, interest-based approach to learning. All&nbsp;FlexSchool students pursue personal passion projects and choose from a diverse menu of&nbsp;enrichment activities and electives designed to support exploration and talent development. Our&nbsp;signature FlexFriday experiential learning program provides essential connections between&nbsp;classroom learning and the real world. Executive Functioning and Learning Support: All FlexSchool students have access to an extensive range of accommodations, including&nbsp;breaks as needed, daily executive functioning support, flexible seating, extended time, assistive&nbsp;technology and more. Learning Specialist support is available on every FlexSchool campus. Social-Emotional Learning and School Counseling: Our caring team of certified school counselors, under the guidance of a consulting psychologist,&nbsp;provide robust social-emotional learning and social pragmatics programming. Students are&nbsp;welcome to visit the school counselor at any time &ndash; no appointment necessary. FlexSchool&nbsp;counselors also maintain a collaborative relationship with parents and outside providers. Rolling admissions: We understand that student needs don&rsquo;t always neatly align with the academic calendar, so&nbsp;FlexSchool admits students on a rolling basis. To learn more, join FlexSchool founder Jacqui&nbsp;Byrne live via Zoom for a Virtual Open House. To receive a call from our admissions team,&nbsp;inquire online, email us at admissions@flexschool.net or call 908-279-0787.

Camp Lee Mar

A private 7 week residential summer program offering a unique curriculum incorporating a strong Academic and Speech program with traditional camp activities. Our campers flourish at Lee Mar due to the structured environment we provide which allows our campers to feel comfortable and secure. Careful study is made of parent input, school (IEPs), camper interview, etc., so that the interests and needs of each child can best be determined for suitable grouping prior to the camper arriving. At Lee Mar the children find comfort and friendship with children of similar age and functioning level. From this foundation we encourage our campers to embrace and learn new skills and have new experiences which they can build upon on their return home. We also focus on building friendships which last throughout the year, as well as learning how to cope with the dynamics of group situations. Development of the whole child is our goal. We work hard at improving the daily living, social, and life skills of our campers, while giving them the happiest summer of their lives!