Nominate & Recommend

To: New Haven Public High School teachers, staff, and community education partners

Please help us find students who would benefit from our program by nominating them online.

If a student has already applied and is asking for your recommendation, please submit here.


Citizens Thinkers Writers is a tuition-free two-week summer residential program and year-long fellowship program at Yale University for students from New Haven public schools who are interested in exploring fundamental human questions in a college setting. In small discussion seminars led by professors, students will gain invaluable experience in close reading, analytic writing, and college-level discussion. They will see themselves as active participants in a long-running philosophical conversation that dates back to ancient Greece and Rome, and will link this conversation to their own experiences as citizens of twenty-first-century New Haven.

Who?

  • Current sophomores and juniors who love to read and discuss big questions
  • Aspiring college students from New Haven public schools
  • Preference to students who would be first in their immediate families to attend college

What?

  • A tuition-free two-week residential program at Yale, followed by a year-long fellowship program with regular meetings
  • Small seminars with professors and undergraduate & graduate mentors
  • A chance to explore great books and the questions they raise
  • An additional source of support through the college application process in the fall

When?

  • Program dates are July 14-26, 2024
  • Students live on campus Sunday evening through Friday and go home for the weekend
  • Students become part of the CTW Fellowship Program and meet bimonthly from September 2024 – May 2025

How can teachers, staff, and community education partners help?

  • Tell us about students who would be a good fit for this program by nominating them online.
  • Nominations are due by March 1, 2024.
  • We’ll contact the students that you nominate and we’ll encourage them to apply.
  • Students will have until March 15, 2024 to complete their applications.

Questions? Please contact CitizensThinkersWriters@yale.edu