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OUR APPROACH • Our Model: Expeditions
Eight Life-changing Weeks
At Summit, we recognize that our students have a wide variety of interests and there are many different ways to learn!
During Expeditions, students have the chance to learn outside of the normal school context, make new friends, explore diverse interests, and gain essential life knowledge and skills.
For eight weeks a year, students participate in a course, internship or journey like no other. Students immerse themselves into subjects about which they are passionate, learn from professionals in these fields and emerge with a new perspective on the world and their future.
Through these yearlong courses, workshops, and internship offerings, students gain and practice the skills of problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and persistence towards excellence. With developing Habits of Success at the heart of everything we do, students build skills five key areas.
Enrichment & Passion |
Anna's Expedition exploring her passion of music begins every day at a music studio in downtown San Jose. This will be her "classroom" every morning for two weeks. Here, she works under the supervision and mentorship of a professional sound recording artist, where she learns how to capture and manipulate sound in real time and use music as a tool to express stories, soundscapes, rhythms, and melodies. Today, she is proud of a "mash-up" they created with an oldies song and a modern hip hop, and posted her work to sound cloud, which she shared with her friends and families. She feels closer to her passion and begins to envision a future career in music. |
College and Career |
Tiffany is participating in a University of California approved Psychology course at her Summit school in the afternoon for two weeks. Today, she will dive into Memory by rotating between stations that require the use of various types of memories and application of memory strategies. Tiffany spends her afternoon looking at case studies of individuals with brain damage who have lost their ability to create and maintain new memories. Tiffany closes the day feeling excited and motivated to excel in her biology class when classes resume. |
Health and Wellness |
Rather than it through a traditional nutrition class by taking notes and watching videos, Daniel is learning about how his choices impact his body and energy through experimentation in the field. During Expeditions, he is signed up for a class called "A Fit Solution – A Lifetime of Being Awesome" where his classroom is a fully loaded gym with personal trainers and nutritionists ready to help him. At the beginning of his Expedition year, Daniel set out a number of health goals for himself and is given time and support within the gym to get fit, learn about healthy living, and directly reap the benefits of exercise and strength training – a life-long habit we hope all students to embrace. |
Leadership and Active Citizenship |
Gloria is learning how to give back to her community by giving her "time, talent, and treasure to the common good" in her Philanthropy class. So far in the year, Gloria has spent time with a group in her class identifying and deeply researching a social issue that is close to her heart – her group has chosen Domestic Abuse – and begun to research a number of local non-profits in the area that are working on solving her issue. Not only is she learning how these groups create social change, she has been empowered to grant a non-profit of her choosing $5,000 based on a generous grant from the John and Marsha Goldman Foundation. The education, inspiration, and grant-making skills that comes from this Expedition will stay with Gloria long after the Expedition ends. |
The Arts |
Louis has a passion for the art of film making. As he puts his backpack down in his UC-approved Film and Video Production course, he immediately immerses himself into Hollywood. He grabs a video camera and joins the rest of his group that are at the computer, reviewing their footage from yesterday. Their group decided to make a documentary based on whether using computers for learning is good or bad for student motivation – a hot topic currently being discussed around the school. Today, Louis and his group have their journalistic hats on and are out interviewing students and faculty to provide interview testimonials for their documentary. His day ends smiling looking through the footage with his group on their computer. They got their interviews, and are excited to start editing them tomorrow for their final project, which will be shared with the teachers and leaders of the school. |
