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From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! On Thursday morning, over a year of planning, months of building courses, and hours of exploration and discovery culminated in our annual closing celebration day, which involved two separate super-assemblies this summer. What amazes me most about DECATS, beside the fascinating breakthroughs, remarkable insights, and moving acts of kindness is how quickly it all goes by. It seems like only yesterday we were gathering together for the first time, starting to learn our new theme song, and learning the standards of our time together. We played hard, learned more [...]

From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! The last week of DECATS has been amazing as we have concluded our journey together of finding "The Strength Within." I have no doubt that our Scholars will continue to grow their inner strength, making a difference in the lives of others. The Scholars were very busy this week completing culminating activities in their courses. Scholars showcased their creativity and intellect creating games in several courses including "Video Games: The Strength Within," "Game On," and "Sportsplex." All things Olympics was the theme for "Passing the Torch" where Scholars explored [...]

From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! The final week of our program is always filled with many special experiences, such as course presentations and the culmination of our service project. Our community came together to collect over 40 teddy bears and 319 canned goods! During Thursday's Closing Celebration, our Scholars put together a one-of-a kind performance that was a wonderful display of creativity and leadership, a “Salute to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of your Scholar’s growth this summer. I pray that each Scholar walks [...]

From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! It is with gratitude and joy that I share with you that the second week of DECATS has been amazing!  Our Scholars are working at learning while finding "The Strength Within" at DECATS! As the second week  comes to a close, it fills me with joy to give an account of the events that have transpired.  Our "Executive Functioning" Scholars have explored and practiced ways to strengthen working memory, initiative, materials management and social coordination. During "Wellness," Scholars discussed stressors, healthy body image and nutrition. Our "Values and Morals" [...]

From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! The second week of the program has drawn to a close, our momentum and strength continue to grow, and they show no signs of slowing. The Scholars continually wow me with their discoveries, breakthroughs, and use of creative and critical thinking as they continue to exhibit the strength within themselves. Budding photographers have chronicled their vision via the lens of a camera (“Through A Different Lens”), a creative group of theater techies are making a professional-quality set for our Broadway production (“Behind the Scenes”), and many LEGO robots are [...]

From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! It has been another amazing week at DECATS. As the second week of our program comes to a close and we continue to embrace "The Strength Within," we are thrilled to share some highlights with you. Our "Executive Functioning" Scholars have explored and practiced ways to strengthen working memory, initiative, materials management, and social coordination. During "Wellness," Scholars discussed stressors, healthy body image and nutrition. Our "Values & Morals" Scholars were hard at work with their give back project and have chosen to use the funds to honor Father [...]

From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! The first week of DECATS was a great success! We burst with joy and excitement to be back together, and we are so grateful you said 'Yes!' to DECATS this summer. During our opening week, the Scholars seamlessly adapted to our safety protocols. We started and ended each day in assembly with high energy singing, dancing and praising. In Manners to Morals and Perspectives -- our first two periods -- your Scholars participated in activities that promote character and explore what it means to be gifted. Executive Functioning Scholars [...]

From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! I am delighted to write with an update on all the great, strengthening happenings during the first week of DECATS at Strake Jesuit. Once the program kicked off, the Scholars quickly began to exemplify strengths never seen before at DECATS. From the first moment of Monday’s program the energy level was off the charts, having been apart for two years, and it only went up from there. During their first period courses, some Scholars started learning about their pre-frontal cortex in Executive Functioning, while our Wellness squads began learning [...]

From the Director's Chair Greetings DECATS Families! The first week of DECATS was a great success! We burst with joy and excitement to be back together, and we are so grateful you said 'Yes!' to DECATS this summer. During this week, the Scholars seamlessly adapted to our safety protocols. We started and ended each day in assembly with high energy singing, dancing and praising. In Manners to Morals and Perspectives -- our first two periods -- your Scholars participated in activities that promote character and explore what it means to be gifted. Executive Functioning Scholars practiced [...]

Welcome back! We are so excited to share that current conditions indicate we will be able to safely resume DECATS this summer with reduced enrollment. While we continue to monitor the situation, we're ready to move forward with facilitating our sign-up processes. We are so grateful to our three host campuses for welcoming us back! This FAQ is designed to address the variety of questions about modifications to the program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We will do our best to notate additions or changes. You may find conflicting information between this FAQ and other areas of [...]