Come join us at a special event! To raise much-needed funds as well as to celebrate its students, the Chappaqua Summer Scholarship Program will host a film fundraiser, in partnership with the Jacob Burns Film Center on Monday, April 27 at 7:15 pm at the Burns. A short film by Mary Diaz, CSSP 2008, will precede the feature presentation. Mary made this film last summer at the Jacob Burns, when she and our other students studied Digital Storytelling. Ken Padilla and Treasrea Cornelius, both CSSP alumni and former board members will be guest speakers.

There will be a reception after the film so that donors can meet host families, board members and students.

We are excited that several alumni who we have been out of touch will be coming to the Burns event. These include Eugene Akahoho, Violeta Perez, Sherene Mohamed, Drupatie Bachu Choks and Esther Guidos. Almost all of our 2008 graduates will be coming as well.

The feature presentation, A Man Named Pearl, is an inspiring documentary that won the Heartland Festival Audience Choice award when it was released in 2006. The press kit for this movie explains, “The improbable true story of Pearl Fryar, a sharecropper’s son whose simple desire to earn ‘Yard of the Month’ in present-day small-town South Carolina unleashed his solitary creation of one of the most spectacular topiary gardens anywhere — though he ‘knows’ nothing about gardening.”

Tickets are $75, please contact Diane Albert at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  if you are interested in attending. All alumni are invited as our guests.