Bright Prospect

The Summer Academy is conducted each August for rising high school sophomores (who were recruited to the program during the spring of their freshman year), and also those rising juniors who were recruited into the program during their sophomore year of high school and thus hadn't participated in the previous Summer Academy. The Academy is conducted on the campus of Harvey-Mudd College, one of the five Claremont Colleges. There is a great advantage to exposing our students to a college campus – few if any have ever been on any college campus, even though these and many others are within a few miles of their home – and this gives them a tangible understanding of what it feels like to be at a college. It makes college real.

The Goals of the Summer Academy are to:

Show students and parents that college can be affordable
Most low income students do not believe that they can afford college, and without that belief they have less incentive to take challenging classes or to work hard in high school. But with high enough grades and the right classes, these students will receive full financial aid for college.

Explain financial aid to students and parents
Financial aid is a mystery to first generation college students and to parents who may not have completed high school, much less gone to college. We explain the components of typical financial aid packages, and how the financial aid application process works.

Implant the goal of graduating from a four year college
Too many students develop the goal of going to college, but fail to understand that without a four-year degree, their career prospects are not much better than those of a high school graduate.

Create a strong bond among students, and a commitment to support one another to achieve their goal of a Bachelors Degree
Our research demonstrated that peer support was the most important element in getting students into college, and through college to graduation.

Begin the development of the necessary academic and life skills to succeed
Too few students in low-performing schools develop the skills necessary to succeed in school or life. Academy workshops help our students build these important skills.