Although Taylor’s Summer Institute (formerly known as CRAM,) and academic summer camps for high school students were canceled last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are scheduled to return this summer.
The camps run June-July, and the COVID-19 restrictions at that time will be carefully considered to make these camps possible.
Nathan Baker, vice president for enrollment management, oversees these programs.
“These experiential programs provide holistic academic, social and spiritual development with distinguished Taylor faculty and give a glimpse of those opportunities that exist in the traditional undergraduate context,” Baker said.
While Summer Institute has been going on for a long time, the academic summer camps started only about 3 years ago.
Jeff Cramer, associate professor of computer science & engineering, has been teaching Foundations for Summer Institute since 2013. Cramer said he thinks the experience is good for the students and is enjoyable as a teacher.
“It's a very stimulating intellectual environment that students really love,” said Cramer. “Teaching it is a pure joy. It's so fun, the students are so entirely engaged and interested and they just love gathering around neat ideas. It's one of my favorite teaching experiences every year.”
Students who attend Summer Institute receive two college credits for taking the abbreviated version of the Foundations of Christian Liberal Arts course. They also receive one additional credit for the elective they choose.
Summer Institute is selective in choosing the students, only taking high schoolers between junior and senior year with a GPA of 3.5 or above. The academic summer camps typically accept students who have finished their sophomore or junior year of high school.
This year, the electives at Summer Institute will be a short form writing course and a history class on the Roosevelts, but the classes rotate every year.
Not only are the camps a good way to show students what Taylor is like, but they can also introduce students to some of the available majors.
The degree tracks offered for the academic summer camps include musical theater, film, professional writing and worship arts.
Professor of Professional Writing Linda Taylor is going to teach the professional writing course for one of the academic summer camps this year.
“In professional writing, we just were kind of unusual for what happens in a lot of Christian schools,” Taylor said. “Most schools that have a professional writing degree do something like combin rhetoric and technical writing, but Taylor’s program is really focused on the writing industry and being publishable. … But I want them to feel like at the end of the day, they got their money's worth, and they really learned some stuff and if they come to Taylor or join the Professional Writing Program, that's a win win.”
The students in the summer camps stay in dorms on campus and eat at the Hodson Dining Commons (DC). Several Taylor students will also be on campus and work as Personnel Assistants (PAs) for the high schoolers. There are also evening activities planned for the students such as scripture engagement sessions, small groups and group games.
Summer Institute will run June 21–July 2 and the summer camps will run June 14–18. Students who attend the summer camps or Summer Institute can receive a one-time $1,000 scholarship for Taylor.
Between the academic summer camps and Summer Institute, campus expects over 100 high schoolers to come to campus across the three week period.
For more information about the Summer Institute or academic summer camps, contact admissions at admissions@taylor.edu.
