An Exceptional Summer Experience for High School-Age Readers
Each summer for the past six years, a carefully selected group of outstanding students and enthusiastic readers has come together at Amherst College and Stanford University to take up the Great Conversation of classic literature, with a broad range of texts and an emphasis on the timeless questions: What is the good life? What do I owe my neighbors? What must I do in the face of injustice?This summer, we have added a new campus at The College of William & Mary, and our program is stronger than ever. Sessions are offered for two age groups: the Intermediate Program, for middle school students entering grades 6-8, and; the Senior Program, for high school students entering grades 9-12.
The Senior Program
Participants in the Senior Program come from wide-ranging backgrounds and points of view, yet they share a common trust and interest in helping each other hone their creative instincts and intellectual risk-taking. More advanced reading selections and greater peer-to-peer interaction lead to exciting discussions and debates. Young people take command of their own deep thinking and powers of expression and put it all together.Additionally, the entire program delivers the best possible preparation for the new SAT critical thinking sections. Senior Program students also meet with and get to know professors and students from top universities to discuss college choices and experiences.
Reading lists are compiled with the high school student's interests and ambitions in mind. Directing the student toward deeper critical thinking and more challenging issues, the reading list for the Senior Program look forward to college preparation by asking student to think carefully about the present and to study closely the lessons of the past.
We'll read and discuss selections from Shakespeare, Dante, Jefferson, Homer, Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson, Jamaica Kincaid, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, Tolstoy, Lincoln, and others. For a complete Reading List, click here.
Using an approach that dates back to Socrates, we teach by asking questions and stimulating discussion amongst students. Students come away from the Great Books Summer Program with sharper critical thinking skills and a deep connection to other outstanding young people preparing to lead lives of distinction.
Active Engagement Through Writing, Art, Music and Theater
In addition to our discussions, we offer electives in theater, music, writing and art to allow students to express their interpretations of the ideas we've discussed. Working in small groups with highly talented teachers, students collaborate and contribute to a final evening of performances. Inspired by the works they've been reading and by each other, students have respondend by writing stunning works of poetry, staging thrilling dramas, penning heartfelt essays, crafting extraordinary sculptures and sketches, and even composing original music ensembles.
There are also lots of fun activities to choose from each day and evenings are filled with movies, theater games, mixers and outings. To see a schedule of a Typical Day, click here.