An Exceptional Summer Experience for Bright Minds

Each summer for the past six 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.

The Intermediate Program (entering grades 6-8)

For our younger participants, the Great Books Summer Program is often a time of intellectual awakening and fascination, as their own personal powers of perception and critical thinking blossom. Professors, Discussion Leaders, and skilled Program Assistants focus on each individual’s unique participation and contributions to create a dynamic and fun exchange of ideas. Through stimulating questions, discussion, and facilitation, young minds make connections between the themes and scenes of great literature and their own lives and dreams. The Great Books Summer Program helps young minds gain confidence and find a voice in their own capacity for critical thinking and engagement with Big Ideas.

The Senior Program (entering grades 9-12)

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.

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