One way we empower students to practice their own agency at New Summit Academy is through a dynamic advising process, and our quarterly PROPS Day features as a key moment for students to create actionable steps to develop strategies to reach their academic, healthy lifestyle and personal growth goals.

Meeting on the first day of each new academic term, PROPS Day is a dedicated time for students to sit down with their advising teams and plan for the weeks ahead.

Each student’s advising team - or PROPS Team - is composed of a therapist, a therapist assistant, an academic advisor and two experiential education mentors. Together, they use a “Green, Yellow, and Red” system to help students outline actionable steps toward their goals for the term.

​As the academic term progresses, PROPS team members will meet weekly with students to help students review and reflect on their progress, shift gears to new strategies when needed, and celebrate the incremental steps taken towards internalizing habits and skills.

The PROPS Team also helps each student manage their time productively at New Summit Academy by guiding them through an array of healthy lifestyle activities offered - from surfing after class to evening basketball, morning gym with a personal trainer to afternoon mountain biking - in order to build a balanced and appealing weekly schedule of constructive engagement.

​This approach extends to academic advising as well. Students are empowered to try new strategies for executive functioning, organization of school work, study plans and more in order to remain engaged in their classes and work toward their academic goals.

In all of these processes, students have agency in choosing what they want to try out and, through trial and error, students can live the things that they want to try so that they can figure out through the experience what works best for them.

​New Summit Academy’s process-based scaffolding approach not only allows the advising team to provide support and structure for each student’s strengths and needs, it also puts students in the driver’s seat to first co-create the strategies needed to reach their goals and gradually take over the navigation process themselves.

​The more actively involved the students are in the advising process, the more ownership they feel about their personal growth at New Summit Academy, equipping them for success both during their time in Costa Rica and beyond.

​New Summit Academy is excited to welcome Yannick Pilgrim as our new teacher of English Literature, Composition, and Creative Writing. Before landing at NSA, Yannick’s journey as a student-athlete took him from his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago to the US where he attended The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut prior to completing his undergraduate degree at Davidson College.

An impactful study abroad experience brought Yannick to Costa Rica in 2010. After graduating from Davidson College, he returned to Costa Rica to teach English and pursue his MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the University of Costa Rica.

New Summit Academy graduates leave Costa Rica not only with the impressive RESUME one builds while studying abroad, but with a unique set of skills, a clearer understanding of their values, increased autonomy and self-governance, the capacity to see things from different viewpoints, flexibility and adaptability, and a renewed drive to pursue their path. We were fortunate to sit down recently with a few of our graduates and their parents who shared perspectives on student life, growth at NSA and the impact our school had on themselves and their families.

Each quarter, New Summit Academy teachers and students collaborate in developing rigorous, dynamic classes which challenge students to develop academic skills along with strengthening skills in executive functioning, time management, interpersonal relationships, and more.

​English Literature and Composition classes studied the art of Creative Nonfiction, vocabulary development, literary devices, interviewing skills, and increasingly-sophisticated writing techniques. 

​Students then conducted interviews with a family member about a universal human experience that occurred before students were born, and then applied their learning by crafting compelling creative nonfiction "Family Legends" about their subjects.

Beginning through Advanced Spanish students are learning more complex grammar this quarter and have been learning about the different provinces of Costa Rica in Spanish class.

​Students researched the geography, flora, fauna, culture, and traditions of each province, and presented to the community what they learned.

In Algebra II classes students learned about statistics and representations, dispersion measures, and how to use them to analyze different data sets. While in Precalculus, they studied the exponential and logarithmic functions, the relationship between them as inverse functions, and the properties and graphs of each, and concluded with the solution of exponential equations.

In Geometry, classes focused on 3 types of conics - parabolas, ellipses, and hyperbolas - learning the definitions, characteristics, formulas, and the elements that compose them. Algebra I students learned ways to write a quadratic equation, including the properties, domain, range, and vertex, along with factoring techniques to solve quadratic equations and find the roots of functions.

Photography classes took on advanced techniques of using the camera in manual mode and the relationship between f-stops, shutter speeds and ISO.

​With this knowledge, students were able to take images with intention, employing lens selection, depth of field control, creating or capturing motion, and understanding soft, hard, and reflective light.

NSA’s Documentary Filmmaking class studied the elements that compose a documentary, along with off axis, direct to camera, and “man on the street” interview techniques.

​Using this knowledge, each student created a personal journal that traced their life up to the point of entering NSA. Using direct to camera self interviews, interviews with parents, archival videos, and still pictures of their lives at home and of current events during their stay in NSA, the students examined their lives in a very personal and profound way.

World History students concluded their semester-long study of Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus, exploring Humanist ideologies and their role in conflicts like WWII and the Cold War. They examined how modern science views humans and all life as biochemical algorithms and how new technologies challenge limits on mortality, happiness, and abilities. Students then researched and wrote papers on the future implications of these advancements.

U.S. History and Government students studied history, current events and predictions for the future through a geopolitical lens, focusing on how geography influences interactions. The course was divided into three parts: The Past (ancient history to 1944); The Recent Past (the past 80 years); and Some Predictions (future opportunities and challenges). For their projects, students researched and presented arguments on why specific countries might join or leave U.S. alliances or competing systems.

Meanwhile, the other U.S. History and Government class explored U.S. foreign policy from 1800 to the present, focusing on smaller diplomatic and military engagements between major wars, from the Barbary Wars to the Boxer Uprising. Students began research projects on how geopolitical factors, technological advances, and political will contributed to the U.S. becoming a global superpower, with this work continuing next quarter.

In Humanities class, the quarter theme was “The Complexities of Gender.” The class studied the potential mental health, developmental, and self-image impacts of culture, mass media, and social media on teen and young adults caused by the inundation of concepts, images, and representation of gender, masculinity, and femininity. In their projects, students conducted, recorded, presented, and reflected on in-depth, focused interviews on these topics with members of our community.

In Music Studio Technology and Live Performance Combo, students either enhanced their traditional instruments, worked on software-based music production, or focused on lyric writing and recording projects.

By the end of the quarter, they presented their progress and demonstrated significant skill development.

Change is hard. Add a new country, new peers, new teachers, and a new place to live and it can certainly seem overwhelming, especially to a teenager. That’s why at New Summit Academy the orientation phase begins before a new student even sets foot on an airplane! Prior to enrollment, applicants are set up with a Student FAQ packet and then a video chat with 3-4 current students who answer all their questions and create an initial social connection before arrival.

​Once on Pura Vida soil, current students mentor new students to learn the ropes and settle in. What’s my schedule? What are the rules here? How do I ask for what I need? When do I get to use my cell phone? The Orientation period can feel overwhelming and also exciting. The latter (exciting!) is what our most recent new students experienced this past weekend when they embarked on their first Aventura with their peer mentors to Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall.​

​In three short days, students enjoyed a coffee tour, shared life stories, visited Poas volcano, completed a high ropes course, and snacked on the delicious local strawberries while going over NSA handbook rules, tasting local casados and cafecito, and hiking La Paz waterfall gardens and wildlife refuge.

Our creative students engage in Arts and Elective classes weekly, taking advantage of NSA's acoustically-designed Music Studio, recording and mixing room running on Pro Tools, and documentary film editing suite using professional-level AVID software. 

Costa Rica? (eyes widen, jaw drops)... Why do we need to go to Costa Rica? Can’t we find supportive schooling and therapy here in our home country? Sure, you certainly can. But what NSA and The Bridge offer is beyond what CAN be offered in the USA. ​

Our academic terms are broken up with a monthly adventure trip in the middle. These digital detoxes are fantastic opportunities to break up the academic routines and bond socially.
 
Whether kayaking or hiking in one of Costa Rica’s amazing national parks… or exploring the cultural riches of Panama City, Panama, these adventure trips are often the biggest and best highlights of our student’s experiences as they gain confidence, perspective, and lots of memories with their NSA peers and staff. 
​
Before you know it, you’ll be standing at the podium, reflecting on the last few months of your life.  How do you want to remember it?