After Andover students leave for summer vacation, a new crop of students arrive at Phillips Academy for the annual Summer Session. For summer 2007, Summer Session will introduce two new programs: Lower School Institutes and the Andover Institute of Music. The Lower School Institutes will be a program for students who have just completed the seventh or eighth grades. As the first group of Summer Session Lower School, students will be given the option of enrolling in one of the following three programs: • Marine Biology and Math will cover the study of the natural world and will teach students how to apply algebra and statistics to situations in everyday life; • Making Literature Come Alive, an English and theatre program, will combine studying classic and contemporary American literature with performing arts and film-making; • Dig This: A Study of the American Past will give students the chance to learn about early American life while they catalogue and excavate an archaeological dig site. These three programs will drive the Lower School Institutes to open a new chapter in Summer Session history. For the first time, Summer Session will allow middle school students to experience life at Phillips Academy. Dr. Peter Warsaw, former Chair of the Music Department, will lead the Andover Institute of Music. Visiting professional musicians will hold master classes for the program participants who are serious about improving their performance skills. Members of Mistral, a regional chamber group, will teach daily classes. Student musicians will also have the opportunity to perform in public concert series. The many courses will include group classes for specific instruments, sight-reading classes, music theory, and performance psychology. For the past 60 years, Summer Session has given students from all over the world the opportunity to experience the Andover lifestyle. Students can enroll in courses for earn academic credit or to full personal interests in a certain subject. Summer Session offer other courses such as computer graphics, journalism, Chinese, and an introduction to astronomy, and an English as a Second Language course for international students. Boarding students live in the dorms and experience dorm life similar to that of Andover’s students. Day students are included in all other classes and extracurricular activities. All students have a daily course schedule and afternoon activities. On the weekends, they have the opportunity to go on many different day trips to shopping malls, amusement parks and to Boston. Back on campus, the school offers weekly dances, lectures and films. On Wednesday afternoons, the program takes students to visit various New England colleges including Boston College, Amherst and Yale. This activity is for mainly those entering the eleventh or twelfth grade. Summer Session also offers many extracurricular activities for students to enroll in, such as recreational and inter-school competitive sports like soccer, volleyball and swimming. The program now hosts more than 600 students from 34 states and 37 countries.
