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Summer College Readiness Program

For high school seniors graduating this spring and going on to college in the fall.

New for 2024! - Experiential programming for transitioning from student to adulthood

Program Dates:
Sunday, July 14 – Saturday, July 27, 2024*
*Classes will be held on Friday and residence halls will close at noon on Saturday the 29th.

 

Costs:
$4,160, plus $150 refundable damage deposit
(Cost includes double occupancy residence hall room, meals, and activities.)

 

 

What You Gain from a Summer at Landmark College

Our Summer College Readiness Program, for college-bound high school graduates, is all about preparation—through practice and exposure—for that crucial first semester of college. It is also about understanding the changing role of a high school student to a college student. Even the most high-achieving students often face unanticipated difficulties in their first semester of college possibly putting them at risk for failure or struggle. Problems often arise not from a lack of academic abilities, but from the enormous jump in independence required in a college environment.

Students are immersed in a living/learning experience that offers a real “taste” of college life and the college-level work they will encounter in the fall. They develop a clear understanding of their personal learning strengths and needs, and discover how resources and self-advocacy can support their success in college. This preview of college life can help to alleviate anxiety and foster the confidence needed as students encounter the new demands of college.

Who Should Attend this Program?

This program is designed to help students who want to:

  • Learn to articulate individual learning issues that need attention
  • Identify the specific supports and accommodations they’ll need in college—and how to access them
  • Experience a typical introductory college-level lecture class
  • Learn and practice self-advocacy skills they’ll need to navigate through their freshman year
  • Apply organizational skills, helpful habits, and useful behaviors needed to succeed at college—and identify problem habits and behaviors that might surface during their first year
  • Begin the process of transitioning from an adolescent to a young adult

Students who struggle with social anxiety and have difficulty making friends have the option of participating in social support activities, including social pragmatic workshops and student affairs events. Resident assistants are available as peer mentors to provide information about activities and to help students feel connected to the Landmark community.

Rite of Passage: Transition to Adulthood

New for Summer 2024 Through experiential programming students will begin to understand and embrace their transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Students will gain interpersonal and practical skills while exploring their own values and designing a service project to bring change to a community they care about.

  1. Programming will introduce students to the Rite of Passage (RoP) framework and mindset, and will facilitate skill development, by developing an executable service project.
  2. Advising meetings and academic courses will introduce fundamental skills and ideas that will support and supplement work on the RoP service project.
  3. The co-curricular programming will further support student by reinforcing associated skills and strategies to building off the lessons used elsewhere in addition to regular living and learning skills delivered as part of the residential curriculum.

 

Note: For admission to this program, students must provide a letter of admission to a four-year college or university. A diagnosed learning disability is not required to enroll in this program.

Financial Aid is available and awarded upon acceptance. Financial aid applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. We encourage parents to submit an application for financial aid early.

During this two-week program students will take three classes: College Writing, Executive Functioning and Study Skills, and a lecture-type course. Some key areas of skill development include but are not limited to:

  • Applying critical reading and thinking approaches to demonstrate comprehension of assigned topics and readings.
  • Taking notes from lectures including note review and revision.
  • Writing brief summaries of readings
  • Understanding the difference in expectations of high school level and collegiate level writing (summarization vs. analyzation)
  • Exploring various methods for completing an academic research paper
  • Organizing course materials using a system, for example, the Master Notebook system
  • Examining executive function behaviors as they relate to planning, prioritizing, production, and execution of assignments
  • Using self-advocacy skills to navigate the academic, residential, and social components of their freshman year experience.
“I appreciate the kindness and compassion of the Landmark faculty and staff. They ‘get’ these kids—they understand them. The Summer Transition Program was great preparation for the ‘real thing.’ My objectives were met: giving my son a taste of independent living in a college-like atmosphere.”
“Thank for the guidance that you all have provided our daughter. Her experience and the tools she acquired at Landmark will serve her well. I look forward to watching her continue to grow, learn, and blossom.”
“This program helped my son get a better handle on the work required at the college level. So far, so good at college! He feels ready to take on anything his professors throw at him. Thank you for a great experience!”
“Our son benefited very much having a dress rehearsal of what he might experience his freshman year and learning about advocating for his accommodations. It gave him confidence that he was, in fact, ready for college. And it helped us feel better about him leaving home. It was a reminder that he’s continuing to grow and achieve in spite of learning differences and personality differences.”
“The feedback at the end of the program was so helpful and reassuring!! Our son also told us of all the great experiences he had this summer. We will be forever grateful”
“Thank you so much for the opportunity to attend the Summer College Readiness program. I look forward to taking what I learned to college with me. It was life changing.”

This is a list of the colleges/universities that the Summer College Readiness students were accepted to:

  • Binghamton University
  • Cal Poly Humboldt
  • Clark University
  • Converse University
  • Curry College
  • Dean College
  • Denison University
  • Eastman School of Music
  • Fairleigh Dickinson University
  • Ferris State University
  • Fitchburg State University
  • Florida State University
  • Goucher College
  • International People’s College
  • Marist College
  • Michigan State University
  • Middlesex Community College
  • Morgan State University
  • Muhlenberg College
  • Norwich University
  • Oberlin College
  • Pace University
  • Saint Louis University
  • Salve Regina University
  • Sarah Lawrence College
  • Southern New Hampshire University
  • SUNY New Paltz
  • Temple University
  • University of Central Florida
  • University of Connecticut
  • University of Denver
  • University of Hartford
  • University of Illinois
  • University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • University of New Hampshire
  • University of Notre Dame Maryland
  • University of Southern California
  • University of Vermont
  • Webster University
  • Western Washington University
  • Westfield State University
  • William & Mary

We will collaborate with the Landmark College Success Center in San Mateo, California to deliver instruction, activities, and programming to help support students who would benefit from social pragmatic support. In addition, there will be social coaching opportunities, as well as parent meetings to supplement what the students will be learning. This support is open to all students.

(Social pragmatic programming will take place in Summer Session 2 (weeks 2 and 3 – so SBE students can participate). We will collaborate with the San Mateo Success Center/ We will have four instructional days from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday & Thursdays will also offer online activities with Thomas Kuzma, and Thursday evenings and Saturdays from 10 – 5, Issac Alam will provide off campus activities. Social Coaching will be available on Fridays. Parent meetings on Thursdays, and this will coincide with San Mateo programming. In-person instruction will happen separately with our students on campus. We are looking for the best place for this to happen. This support is open to all students, and they can opt in if they choose. We are aware that some students will be flagged during the admission process as needing support, and we will review files accordingly.)


Specifics

  • Core Lecture Course—Issues in Today's World:
    In this two-week interdisciplinary course, we will examine several short readings in contemporary culture that illustrate different issues under examination. During the lecture portion of this class, students will practice applying their critical thinking, reading, writing, and notetaking skills introduced in their two other required courses: Executive Function and Study Skills and College Writing. Some of the topics included may be the use of Artificial Intelligence (A.I) by college students, Diversity initiatives and College Enrollment practices, or social media and corporate responsibility, to name a few.

    Executive Functioning & Study Skills:This course introduces the academic skills and habits essential for managing college-level courses. Students will learn strategies for improving executive functioning, critical reading, and note-taking. Students will also have the opportunity to directly apply the strategies learned in this class to other classes that are part of the overall summer program.

    College Writing:
    This series of workshops is designed to help students understand what college teachers expect in terms of writing, give students an opportunity to practice several approaches to short writing assignments, and advance students’ understanding of writing structure and process. Students will practice writing-process strategies in the areas of generating, organizing, summarizing, analyzing, synthesizing, drafting, and editing. A major focus of the workshop is for students to develop and articulate an individual sense of their strengths and difficulties as writers and learners.

  • Sample Weekday Schedule:

     

     
    9 – 10:15 a.m. Class Period 1
    10:30 – 11:45 a.m. Class Period 2
    Noon – 1:00 p.m. Lunch in the Dining Hall/Free time
    1:15 – 2:30 p.m. Class Period 3
       
       
       
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