Horizons at Dedham Country Day School is celebrating its Fifth Anniversary on Saturday, April 27, with a black tie gala at the home of DCD parents Helena and Steven D’Angelo, co-chairs of the event. Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News and Rock Center is a special guest for the evening, which includes dinner and dancing and a live auction and raffle. Tickets are $225 per person. For more information, contact Meredith Laban, 781-329-0850, ext. 2626, or go to www.horizonsgala.org.

Dedham Country Day School opened the doors of its Horizons program in June 2009, making it the 16th Horizons site nationally and the first in Massachusetts. In keeping with the Horizons model, Horizons at Dedham Country Day School started small with 16 Kindergarten children during its first summer and has grown to serve six grades with 90 students enrolled for summer 2013. The students are from low-income families in Dedham and Boston. Each year, the program will grow one grade at a time until, in a decade, it will serve approximately 150 students in Kindergarten through eighth grade.

During the summer program, Horizons students participate in reading, math, and science classes, as well as swimming, music, arts, and sports. The students explore the many different environments of the metropolitan Boston area, including the Franklin Park Zoo, Boston Aquarium, Blue Hills Reservation, Brookline Puppet Theater, Museum of Science, and an urban farm. Qualifying students take part in this enriching summer program for a nominal registration fee. They receive breakfast, lunch, and a snack, and transportation is provided.

In 2012, Horizons began offering year-round intensive tutoring to its students at their own schools with teachers from their school. This helps ensure continued connections and support for Horizons students during the school year.

By hosting the Horizons program on its campus, Dedham Country Day School has taken an important next step in its evolution as it seeks to embrace an inclusive interdependent community of students, teachers, and parents, and inspire all students to become caring, ethical members of the larger world.