Baby CTY
Baby CTY is the Johns Hopkins program for students between in grades 5 through 6, as opposed to regular CTY, which is for kids in grades 7 and above. There is no corresponding CAA for baby CTY. Separate sites are used for baby and regular CTY. Baby CTY uses the STB, SCAT, PLUS, or PSAT tests as opposed to the SAT of regular CTY. Baby CTY also has its own set of rules, classes, and traditions that are normally different from that of normal CTY. In Baby CTY students can choose, at some sites, to be a residential student or a commuter. Unlike at normal CTY, the average Baby CTYer is a day student instead of an over-nighter.
There is a very small group of people grades 2 through 4 that take a different test and go to their own set of sites, but this program is not widely known, and it is usually also termed "Baby CTY," sometimes "ultra-Baby CTY." Only about a third of CTYers have gone to Baby CTY and far fewer to ultra-Baby CTY. The term "Baby CTY" is only used for unofficial purposes, but it is not pejorative.
There are a few people who have gone all the way from ultra-baby CTY (2nd-4th grade) to "big kids" or regular CTY. Some of these rarities are listed here:
- Adam Roush, Baltimore and Lancaster
- Susannah Roush (me! ;) ), Carlisle and Lancaster
- Rory Caskey, Carlisle
- Rachel Luban, Carlisle
- Daniel Luban, Carlisle
- Beatrice Liang , Johns Hopkins and Lancaster
- Philip Nathan, Lancaster
- Rachel Todd, Lancaster
- Kelson Schilling-Scrivo, Carlisle
- Zev Hurwich, Lancaster
- Kat Wilkinson, Loudonville and Skidmore
- Rachel Larrowe, Lancaster
- Washington Urbina, Lancaster
- Wade Burelbach, Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins
- Justine Heritage, Lancaster and Carlisle
- Derek Jang, Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins
- Erica Jang, Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins
- Melina Melgoza, Los Angeles
- Danika Tatangsurja, Los Angeles
- Taylor Liu, Los Angeles
- Diana Delgado, Los Angeles
- Mindy Cheng, Lancaster
- Yana Kaplun, Johns Hopkins
- Faran "Pegasus" Savitz, Lancaster
Some of the older students in this list went to the Sandy Spring Friends School site, the only ultra-baby CTY site in Maryland. For two years, however, ultra-Baby CTY was moved to Georgetown Day School while SSFS was renovated. There is also an ultra-Baby site at Garrison Forest School, which was recently moved to St. Paul's School. These are both in the Baltimore area. A third site is in LA, attended by only about a hundred people each year. There is also a baby-baby site in Alexandria, Virginia, Saint Stephens, Saint Agnes. Please add to the list if you know anyone else!
Although Baby CTY has very few traditions, it does provide an introduction to a couple of CTY Canon and "sub-Canon" songs, including "Every Time We Touch" by Cascada, "Here (in my arms)" by Hellogoodbye, "Dragostea Din Tei" by Ozone and "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex. Furthermore, American Pie is the last song at the dances, although the "Die, die, die, die! Live, live, live, live! Sex, sex, sex, sex! More, more, more, more!" chant is shortened to just "Die, die, die, die! Live, live, live, live!" or "Die, die, die, die!" (for obvious reasons), and some sites omit the chanting altogether. During a certain year on a particular extremely hot sports day, several children gathered at a shaded alcove with a locked door connected to an air conditioned room ( kids were not allowed in but no RAs or other staff were in there ) but a small group of kids entered through another passageway that was unlocked and they taunted the kids at the locked doors and enjoyed the lounge until the RAs were called in to seige the lounge, which at that point the intruders got away through another passage. They were never caught. This was possibly the most famous incident at 2009 baby CTY. This editor was one of the kids who were taunted.
