for students entering grades 9 - 12
AcademicsThe Great Books Summer Program will be a positive academic influence on your child. The senior session provide participants from wide-ranging backgrounds the opportunity to help each other hone their creative instincts and intellectual risk-taking. Advanced reading selections and greater peer-to-peer interaction lead to exciting discussions and debates. Students take command of their own deep thinking and powers of expression. The entire program delivers the best possible preparation for the SAT critical thinking section. Senior program attendees also meet with college professors and students from top universities to discuss college choices and experiences. Successfully completing a program of this caliber is an honor to note on college applications. Each student will receive a Certificate of Completion. In addition, an individual evaluation will be sent to you and their nominating educator to provide insight into their personal and academic accomplishments.
Curriculum
Students in the Senior Program will read such texts as
Seneca’s On the Happy Life, Emerson’s Nature, Homer’s
Odyssey, Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Borges’ Everything
and Nothing and more. All reading materials are
provided to students upon arrival at camp. No
advance reading is required; we prefer that students
do the reading together on campus. While we are a
reading and literature program, we take care to choose
selections and excerpts that can be digested during the
reading period in the day to provide rich content for
our lectures and discussion.
Check out our new Great Films Program at Amherst College.
Multi-week Program
Students who take part in multi-week programs
get to experience two or three times the academics
and fun at Great Books. Each week has a unique,
thematic curriculum to engage and challenge the
students to begin answering enduing philosophical
questions like, “What is the good life? What do
I owe my neighbors? What must we do in the
face of injustice?” In addition to the enhanced
educational and social opportunities afforded by a
longer program, students in multi-week programs
take part in off-campus excursions on the weekend.
Some past excursions have included The Winchester
Mystery House, Boston By Foot, The Exploratorium
and Fisherman’s Wharf, MASS MoCA and and a
performance by Shakespeare and Company.
At Great Books, we are committed to providing a fun and engaging environment. There is plenty of opportunity each day for students to interact with each other outside their classes where they can play field games, take a supervised trip to explore the campus and nearby shops, swim in the pool or go fountain hopping. We understand that even the most intellectually curious students need time to play and make friends so we make certain that there is time every evening for social events. Some activities that our students take part in are theater games, pod trivia night, a dance and the final day art elective performances. While some students come with a friend, the vast majority come alone so we make sure to help them make connections with other students
Community
Students in the Senior Program are housed by age
and gender within our dormitories. They are assigned
to pods which are comprised of 6 – 8 students along
with one college-aged Program Assistant. These
counselors live on the hall with the students and are
involved in all aspects of the student’s day. While
the students are allowed a sense of independence,
counselors are present at all activities. Academically,
Program Assistants facilitate the reading and initial
approach to the texts for lecture, and they provide
an adult presence to help the students transition to
their time on campus. Socially, they help student’s
connect with each other and to take advantage of
the opportunities
At Great Books, we are committed to providing a fun and engaging environment. There is plenty of opportunity each day for students to interact with each other outside their classes where they can play field games, take a supervised trip to explore the campus and nearby shops, swim in the pool or go fountain hopping. We understand that even the most intellectually curious students need time to play and make friends so we make certain that there is time every evening for social events. Some activities that our students take part in are theater games, pod trivia night, a dance and the final day art elective performances. While some students come with a friend, the vast majority come alone so we make sure to help them make connections with other students
A Typical Day
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:15 a.m. Lecture: Declaration
of Independance
10:00 a.m. Snack Break
10:15 a.m. Lecture:
When Will America
Be America Again?
11:15 a.m. Discussion
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Literature Elective
(Chekhov, Kafka, Plato)
2:00 p.m. Creative Elective
(art, music, theatre and
creative writing)
4:00 p.m. Free Time/Pool Time
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Reading Time
7:00 p.m. Ice Cream Social or
visiting author
7:30 p.m. Dance
9:30 p.m. Pod Reading