GCP is always on the lookout for ways to help our sons (and daughters) learn and excel. Here is a great one: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers Saturday Academies of American History, which provide free elective courses for high school and middle school students on Saturday mornings. Gilder Lehrman Saturday Academies are held in eighteen schools and museums across the country, offering innovative courses in interesting and fun topics not typically covered in American history classes, along with SAT prep courses. Courses offered by some of these academies include Comics in American Culture, Presidents During Key Movements in American History, America’s Greatest Battles, and Hollywood vs. History: the Computer’s Effect on American Society. New Yorkers take note: ten of the eighteen schools and museums are located in New York City boroughs. More information about the Saturday Academies can be found on its website here.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Saturday Academies Program was recently chosen as one of twelve winners of the 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and its partner agencies. First Lady Michelle Obama presented the award, which recognizes outstanding after-school and out-of-school programs that transform the lives of young people.