Socratic Summer Academy Is Diverse
Diversity at SSA takes many forms, and enriches both our staff and students.
One of the reasons it’s so important to us to have a diverse - in all senses of the word - summer program is because it helps students in their transition to college.
Our Students Get a Real College Experience!
Socratic Summer Academy isn’t just a chance to improve test scores or live on a college campus, it’s a chance to become a more empathetic, open, and accepting person. It’s a chance for students to broaden their horizons by experiencing all kinds of diversity -- just as they will in college. Diversity in all its forms is just as integral to the Socratic Summer Academy experience as SATⓇ score increases. It’s our goal -- and feedback from our students confirms this -- that students leave Socratic Summer Academy with a deeper understanding of themselves and how to connect with others. In this video, Alyssa explains the importance of diversity to the college experience in general and specifically at Socratic Summer Academy.
Diversity at Socratic Summer Academy
Diversity at Socratic Summer Academy takes many forms. Our teachers come from many different backgrounds and highly prestigious colleges from all over the United States. Our students are incredibly diverse as well, coming from all across the United States and even further.
Staff and students come to camp with very different experiences and mindsets, but one of our main goals is to promote empathy and openness to other people’s ideas. Especially for youth who have not spent significant time away from home, we strongly believe it is important to learn to agree -- and disagree -- with peers in an open, accepting, and compassionate way.
The college experience: being open to diversity
When students go to college, they’ll meet all different kinds of people, which can be overwhelming for students to navigate at first. Socratic Summer Academy provides a “warm up” to college -- students are able to meet many different types of people from very different backgrounds in a warm and supportive environment. Being able to spend three weeks on a college campus helps students learn independence and decide what type of college might be the best fit for them in the future.
Just as staying in the dorms, eating in the dining halls, and using the facilities at Colgate and Mount Holyoke University provides a glimpse into what college is actually like, our curriculum replicates the college experience by encouraging and promoting openness to others’ ideas.
Our Issues class explicitly helps students develop their own opinions about big issues that they will face in college and beyond. It allows them to think through difficult issues and engage with each other respectfully and openly. Students love Issues, as they get to talk about things that affect their daily lives but aren’t always openly talked about.
Full transcript of video:
Because of our focus on being a good explainer and a compassionate, empathetic person, we have a lot of folks who come from a lot of different places and they bring a wealth of diverse experiences [to camp].
I think a lot of people use the word “diversity” in a very narrow way. We use it in an extremely wide way at camp. Our kids are warm, open, and accepting, and I think being in a situation where you get to meet lots of other people helps you be more warm, open, and accepting. It just makes you a better person. And that’s part of the college experience, too. It’s about meeting people that are different from you and having your mind opened.
So many of our kids reflect that the experience here at camp is like a piece of the college experience, whether you’ve never gone away from home before for a protracted period of time, or you’re just thinking that maybe Colgate is the right place for you. This is a great chance to dip your toe in the water, see that you can survive for three weeks away from Mom and Dad, and think about whether or not this is a thing that you’d like to do long term. And on this idyllic campus, how can you go wrong?
