Academics in the Summer Program
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Enrichment as opposed to acceleration is the focus of academics at SEP. Courses allow students to explore a field or discipline with ascending levels of depth and complexity. Through authentic learning experiences, students are challenged to grapple with the key principles, methodologies, thinking processes, and habits of mind experts in various disciplines utilize. Past courses have engaged students in representative topics from fields such as urban ecology, architecture, engineering, economics, and comparative literature. Our goal is to foster creative thinking, critical thinking, the ability to transfer knowledge/skills/understandings to new contexts, and a passion for learning in young people.
The teaching staff at SEP is comprised of experienced educators, specialists in gifted education, and Ph.D. students/experts from varying fields and disciplines. Our staff is dedicated to offering rich and meaningful learning experiences that take into account the interests, learning modalities, and readiness levels of gifted learners. Throughout the spring, the staff works with curriculum specialists in the Curry School of Education to design authentic units of study that reflect best pratices in curriculum and instruction design.
JUNIOR PROGRAM AREA ACADEMICS
Rising 5th - 8th grade students have the opportunity to participate in a morning and afternoon course during the day. The morning class meets on grounds at St. Anne's Belfield. During the application process, students are asked to rank their preference for studying in one of five broad areas: Mathematics, Science, Fine & Performing Arts, Literature & Writing, and the Social Sciences. Students are accepted into one of these five areas and assigned a specific class upon arrival to camp. The afternoon or seminar class meets on grounds at St. Anne's Belfield also.Upon acceptance, students receive a description of each seminar offered and are asked to rank the seminars in order of interest for final assingment into a class. The maximum class size for both the morning and afternoon courses is sixteen.
SENIOR PROGRAM ACADEMICS
Rising 9th-11th grade students have the opportunity to participate in a morning and afternoon course during the day. The morning class meets on grounds at St. Anne's Belfield. During the application process, students are asked to rank their preference of six courses. The courses represent a wide variety of disciplines (click here for a sample of courses). All senior program students participate in an afternoon course entitled Community and Action. In a community context of interest, student are challenged to 1) identify a problem or need, 2) understand the problem from varied perspectives using a range of techniques, 3) construct multiple solutions and weigh the benefits and costs of each, 4) implement an informed solution, 5) modify, and 6) reflect and communicate findings. Students will participate in learning experiences ranging from round table discussions with experts or community members to field work and research design. The emphasis of this course is on critical and creative thinking through community engagement. This class gives fosters the transferable thinking processes necessary to approach problems and needs in their own communities. The maximum class size in both the morning and afternoon courses is sixteen.