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.
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.
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’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.
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