An Exceptional Summer Experience for Bright Minds
Each summer for the past eight years, a carefully selected group of outstanding students 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?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.
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. 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.
Sessions are offered for two age groups: the Intermediate Program, for those entering grades 6-8, and; the Senior Program, for those entering grades 9-12.