{ I N D EPEN D EN T S C H OO L G U I D E }
SMITH COLLEGE PRECOLLEGE SUMMER PROGRAMS Northampton, MA For talented young women entering grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 in fall 2018
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SUMMER COLLEGE Syracuse, NY “Summer College was genuinely the best six weeks of my life,” Nicole Azubuike says as she reflects on her experience at Syracuse University
Smith College Precollege Summer programs offer intellectually stimulating and unique opportunities for young women in high school who wish to pursue their academic interests in the classroom and beyond. Annually, these programs, offer 250 young women the freedom to explore challenging and intriguing subjects, to strengthen their college applications, and to increase their exposure to the Smith undergraduate experience while living and studying with other motivated and ambitious students fromaround the world. The program offerings include Summer Science and Engineering, Women’s Writing, Discovering Women’s History, Field Studies for Sustainable Futures, and a College Admission Workshop. Each summer, Smith welcomes to these programs young women from many nationalities and diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds who together form an extraordinary intellectual community. The learning environment is hands-on, collaborative,
NICOLE AZUBUIKE (CENTER, IN PINK TOP) FORGED LIFELONG CONNECTIONS AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY’S SUMMER COLLEGE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.
VALLEY FORGE MILITARY ACADEMY AND COLLEGE during the Summer of 2017. The rising senior at Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics in Bronx, New York, attended Summer College for High School Students, a precollege program on the sprawling SyracuseUniversity campus in central NewYork State. Nicole enrolled in a 6-week program called Media Literacy, Popular Culture, and Democracy, one of 40 credit and noncredit programs offered through Summer College. The program invites high school students to experience college life, explore interests, and identify possible majors before beginning the college application process. “I gained massive amounts of knowledge from the Media Literacy course,” Nicole says, adding that even though she expects to be on a pre-health career track in college, the classes she took prepared her for college-level work. “I explored abstract concepts and ideologies that are present in our society. The workload was strenuous, but filled with valuable information. My professors did not go easy on me. They treated all of us like college students.” Nicole also took a writing class during her stay at Summer College. “I learned the writing techniques and skills that are needed to analyze, explain, evaluate, and execute rhetoric flawlessly,“ she says. “I also learned how to prioritize and manage my time so that I can balance school work, friends, and my personal down time.” A scholarship from the Charles Hayden Foundation made Nicole’s participation possible. After being nominated by a college counselor, she eagerly submitted two essays, two letters of recommendation and had an interview before being notified that she had won. “I couldn’t have hoped to spend my summer any other way,” she asserts. Syracuse’s program focuses on helping students develop time management and college-level study skills, as well as learning how to live independently on a college campus. Workshops and tours of local universities also help students prepare for the college selection and application process. “This experience helped me discover what I want in a college, and what kind of environment I wish to be in,” Nicole says, adding, “I hope to return to Syracuse as an admitted student!” Social engagement and networking is a welcome benefit. “I have made the greatest friends that I now consider my family, and we have created the strongest, unbreakable bonds,” Nicole says. “There are so many memories I’ll never forget.”
exploratory, challenging and rich in role models. Professors who are world-class scholars offer personal attention in the classroom while encouraging students’ interests and passions and helping them develop new academic skills. Here young women are taken seriously and inspired to excel—as scholars, scientists, leaders. smith.edu/academics/precollege-programs
WESTONMAGAZINEGROUP.COM 197
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker