Editor’s Note

As I’ve told you in a previous editor’s note, as a teenager I longed to go to an all-girls Catholic high school. Instead, I attended my local public school in Westchester County.

Now this is a school that routinely pops up on everyone’s list of best public schools in the nation; it was certainly no sacrifice to attend, and I received a top-notch education. My yearning to go to private school was based on a desire to escape the enormous social pressures that teenagers face. I wanted to be able to concentrate on AP European history. But who could think about Napolean while focusing on whether I was wearing the correct jeans — or if Tom with the dimples, sitting two rows behind me, noticed my jeans at all?

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that single-sex schools represent an attractive option. Over the past few years, there has been increased interest in having separate classes for boys and girls, according to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. This group — which focuses on research stating that boys and girls actually learn in different ways — claims that at least 392 public schools in the U.S. are now offering single-sex educational opportunities.

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So, public or private? When considering which type of school is best for your child, there are a host of factors to consider: tuition, class size, social environment, and extracurricular opportunities (to name a few). There is no correct answer, but our comprehensive article beginning on page 42 can certainly point you in the right direction and help you make a well-informed choice.

But hey, it’s still summer — who wants to think about school just yet? Let’s think about food. I’ll admit that, for a long time, the notion of chilled summer soup left me, well, cold. To my former self, soup was something that should be served piping hot, enjoyed in front of a roaring fire — an antidote to both the cold, cruel world and just a mighty cold day. But then, one bowl of tasty gazpacho changed everything. To be honest, I don’t remember the name of the Manhattan restaurant where this happened. But I do recall the burst of fantastic flavors and the cool sensation of this special soup, and I’ve been a convert ever since. Top local chefs report that cold soups are popping up on their menus with increased frequency. If you’d like to test the (cool) waters, turn to page 60 for five easy-to-prepare summer soup recipes straight from the masters at Hyde Park’s Culinary Institute of America.

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

Cheers,

Olivia J. Abel

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Editor in Chief

oabel@hvmag.com

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