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New Summit Academy and our Young Adult Bridge Program are collaborating on a presentation at the annual National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) conference in Tucson, Arizona later this month. Executive Director Heather Tracy and Danny Recio, Program Director for the Bridge, are working together to present “To Surf or Not to Surf? The Benefits and Risks of Allowing Internet Use in Therapeutic Programs.”
NSA believes the important, positive identity forming and community building benefits of allowing students to share their experiences and growth online outweigh the risks, and Heather and Danny will be delving into this topic before a gathering of professionals in the industry. NSA is proud to continue sharing our cutting-edge practices to help improve student services in all programs.
NSA believes the important, positive identity forming and community building benefits of allowing students to share their experiences and growth online outweigh the risks, and Heather and Danny will be delving into this topic before a gathering of professionals in the industry. NSA is proud to continue sharing our cutting-edge practices to help improve student services in all programs.
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NSA’s Academics are known throughout the industry as one of the most innovative, rigorous and creative programs out there. Our success with engaging all learning styles and developing academic skills is due in large part to our dedicated teachers implementing project- and problem-based learning in their classrooms.
This learning model begins with students and teachers collaborating to develop a project to be completed or a problem to be solved by the end of the semester. Teachers then develop steps to achieve this goal which incorporate the semester’s learning objectives, so that they are met as our students progress through the project.
This learning model helps to develop student ownership of their learning and allows students to place tasks and lessons into a greater context, improving student engagement. At the end of each semester, our community celebrates these projects at the Academic Fair, where students share the results of their efforts with their peers and staff.
This semester, students are working on various projects, including:
This learning model begins with students and teachers collaborating to develop a project to be completed or a problem to be solved by the end of the semester. Teachers then develop steps to achieve this goal which incorporate the semester’s learning objectives, so that they are met as our students progress through the project.
This learning model helps to develop student ownership of their learning and allows students to place tasks and lessons into a greater context, improving student engagement. At the end of each semester, our community celebrates these projects at the Academic Fair, where students share the results of their efforts with their peers and staff.
This semester, students are working on various projects, including:
- A Rube Goldberg machine in Physics that demonstrates natural laws
- Recreating famous or student-generated works of art using mathematical functions
- A collaborative project to answer the question “What is Life?” in both Biology and Literature
- Student-written mystery screenplays inspired by their reading of The Maltese Falcon
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Each quarter at New Summit Academy begins with students collaborating with their Individual Goal Planning team to develop goals and steps for success. Students meet one-on-one with advisors to review their SCAFA scores as a foundation for these goals. SCAFA – Self, Community and Future – is NSA’s own student growth tracking system, developed over a decade of working with our students.
Our innovative system uses day-to-day student engagement to measure growth in Relationships, Social Skills, Executive Functioning, Resilience, Identity, and many more areas. This information is converted into goals at the start of each quarter, and Advisors from Academics, Personal Growth and Experiential Education will continually follow up with goals and steps to help ensure student success. What a way to prepare for the first day of classes!
Our innovative system uses day-to-day student engagement to measure growth in Relationships, Social Skills, Executive Functioning, Resilience, Identity, and many more areas. This information is converted into goals at the start of each quarter, and Advisors from Academics, Personal Growth and Experiential Education will continually follow up with goals and steps to help ensure student success. What a way to prepare for the first day of classes!
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Eight proud program graduates (five of them also high school grads) recently embarked on their culminating Aventura at New Summit Academy: summiting Chirripo, the highest peak in Costa Rica.
Their journeys began more than one year ago, when they participated in the first of their Integrated Aventuras, learning about and serving the Costa Rican community which would become their second home.
Throughout the following months, these students have worked hard, developed the skills they need for success, and now move forward to college or to finish high school.
On Friday, December 16th, New Summit Academy celebrated their efforts at our Winter Graduation Ceremony. Congratulations to our graduates, we look forward to hearing about your many upcoming successes!
Their journeys began more than one year ago, when they participated in the first of their Integrated Aventuras, learning about and serving the Costa Rican community which would become their second home.
Throughout the following months, these students have worked hard, developed the skills they need for success, and now move forward to college or to finish high school.
On Friday, December 16th, New Summit Academy celebrated their efforts at our Winter Graduation Ceremony. Congratulations to our graduates, we look forward to hearing about your many upcoming successes!
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Classes at New Summit Academy engage students through project-based learning: a collaborative, hands-on method of meeting learning objectives while developing student ownership of academics. Teachers and students collaborate in setting an end-goal – the completion of a project or solving of a problem each semester.
By working together to set goals, teachers and students are able to create an atmosphere of curiosity and inquiry, which NSA has found provides the context students need to drive learning. This December, our community celebrated the students’ efforts in project-based learning at our biannual Academic Fair.
Student presented their projects in front of peers, teachers, and our NSA families, showcasing the results of their learning this semester.
This semester’s projects included:
By working together to set goals, teachers and students are able to create an atmosphere of curiosity and inquiry, which NSA has found provides the context students need to drive learning. This December, our community celebrated the students’ efforts in project-based learning at our biannual Academic Fair.
Student presented their projects in front of peers, teachers, and our NSA families, showcasing the results of their learning this semester.
This semester’s projects included:
- Video “Survival Guides” for Challenging Math Problems
- Our Humanities Class Documentary Film on Sustainable Agriculture
- Shakespeare Presentations from Literature and Composition
- A Presentation of NSA’s Literary Magazine Clarion Call
- Intermediate Spanish Students’ Film Highlighting Their NSA Experiences
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Updates like these make all of the efforts worth it:Hi, Kelly,
Life is fantastic right now! I am settled in to my dorm (my roommate is awesome) and have had two days of classes (already five hours spent on homework). I have met up with a lot of my old friends and I am hanging out with another NSA grad often, he’s doing great as well. We went on the same backpacking trip and saw a bear less than 15 feet away, walking toward us! It was a really fun trip and we had perfect weather with a full moon and blue skies.
I had a full time job this past summer as a dish washer with 50-hour weeks (roughly). I managed to go to three concerts through all of that: Rebelution, Guns n Roses, and Blink 182. At the Blink 182 concert, I caught the drummer’s drumstick!
I was sick right when I moved back (figures) but it only lasted a week and I’ve been healthy ever since. There already parties almost every day up here and I’ve managed to stay sober so far so that’s good, still having fun though.
I have no idea what I want to study but I think that is a good thing. I feel comfortable on campus and around all these people, everyone is really friendly up here.
I know I’ve said this before, but in times of reflection, I think I should say again that I am forever grateful for NSA and how it helped me turn my life around. Without it I would not be in college right now and maybe not even have a high school diploma. Then there’s all the emotional knowledge and wisdom I’ve gained, but I won’t go on about that (although it’s really important/advantageous). But the most important skills I learned at NSA were how to live with people, solve conflict, and open up as a person. I am so comfortable around everyone here, and it helps others be comfortable around me. It’s quite an experience to look back on, and I wouldn’t change a thing if I could.
Thanks for all your hard work.
P.S.
Feel free to share this with people and I will write a letter to Martin ‘cause he deserves one and he helped me so much.
Life is fantastic right now! I am settled in to my dorm (my roommate is awesome) and have had two days of classes (already five hours spent on homework). I have met up with a lot of my old friends and I am hanging out with another NSA grad often, he’s doing great as well. We went on the same backpacking trip and saw a bear less than 15 feet away, walking toward us! It was a really fun trip and we had perfect weather with a full moon and blue skies.
I had a full time job this past summer as a dish washer with 50-hour weeks (roughly). I managed to go to three concerts through all of that: Rebelution, Guns n Roses, and Blink 182. At the Blink 182 concert, I caught the drummer’s drumstick!
I was sick right when I moved back (figures) but it only lasted a week and I’ve been healthy ever since. There already parties almost every day up here and I’ve managed to stay sober so far so that’s good, still having fun though.
I have no idea what I want to study but I think that is a good thing. I feel comfortable on campus and around all these people, everyone is really friendly up here.
I know I’ve said this before, but in times of reflection, I think I should say again that I am forever grateful for NSA and how it helped me turn my life around. Without it I would not be in college right now and maybe not even have a high school diploma. Then there’s all the emotional knowledge and wisdom I’ve gained, but I won’t go on about that (although it’s really important/advantageous). But the most important skills I learned at NSA were how to live with people, solve conflict, and open up as a person. I am so comfortable around everyone here, and it helps others be comfortable around me. It’s quite an experience to look back on, and I wouldn’t change a thing if I could.
Thanks for all your hard work.
P.S.
Feel free to share this with people and I will write a letter to Martin ‘cause he deserves one and he helped me so much.
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In addition to beginning to study the Branches of Power and the Presidents Club from 1945 to 2017, NSA’s U.S. History class is taking advantage of the 2016 election that offers plenty of current political issues and controversy, as well as the current election process and interplay between congressional action, Supreme Court power and political makeup. This week, the class also spent time investigating candidates and their records and positions on pertinent issues. Using this information, students created ballot “cheat sheets” that could be used on Election Day at the polls.
This quarter in Literature and Composition, students are continuing their study of Shakespeare with “Hamlet.” As an introduction to the text, we have discussed several of the themes embedded within this tragedy and their relevance to current topics in politics, pop culture, and global citizenship. Students are looking forward to discovering the melancholy Dane’s influence on Disney movies, comic books, and TV shows among other works. By experiencing Shakespeare’s words themselves, watching the direct interpretation of the play, and analyzing several texts and films that recreate the story of Hamlet, students will gain a deeper understanding of the influence of literature in modern society.
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Preparing students for a successful transition from New Summit Academy is a crucial step in helping them succeed in the next stages of their lives. A huge part of this help comes from their work within the NSA Transition Program - an intensive process which engages students, families, and a "Transition Team" in planning and preparing for life after New Summit.
The planning begins well before students' final quarters, when they work with their families to create drafts of their Transition Plans, which will be refined and edited for months before final approval. These comprehensive plans include expectations about education, finances, family and house rules, socializing, and more. Throughout the Transition Program, students also engage in life-skills workshops of their choosing, including topics such as College Level Skills, Planning for and Preparing a Meal, Independent Travel, Budgeting and Finances, and Sex and Dating.
The planning begins well before students' final quarters, when they work with their families to create drafts of their Transition Plans, which will be refined and edited for months before final approval. These comprehensive plans include expectations about education, finances, family and house rules, socializing, and more. Throughout the Transition Program, students also engage in life-skills workshops of their choosing, including topics such as College Level Skills, Planning for and Preparing a Meal, Independent Travel, Budgeting and Finances, and Sex and Dating.
A Transition Family Workshop engages students and parents in face-to-face plan creation, a time guided by the Transition Team when expectations and boundaries can be clearly communicated. As students near graduation, their Transition Plans are reviewed by their team, with further edits and suggestions taken into account before they are approved for their final Aventura: summiting Costa Rica's highest mountain, Cerro Chirripo. As students descend with complete plans, they have the skills, confidence, and support needed for continued success.
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"Therapeutic Educational Experiences" (similar version published in We Are NATSAP newsletter October 2016)
by Dr. Heather Tracy, Ed.M., Ed.D., Executive Director at New Summit Academy & The Bridge – Costa Rica
During the admissions process at therapeutic boarding schools, there is no shortage of educational symptoms listed: Grades declined. Skipped classes. Suspended. Fell into a negative peer group at school. Bullied. Whatever the case may be, what happens at school is often framed as a symptom of a deeper clinical issue that is the true reason for seeking treatment. What is often not highlighted is just how integrated an adolescent’s educational and personal development experiences actually are. The up side to all of this is that education does not solely serve to alert us to symptoms needing clinical attention, but
rather educational experiences can be important facilitators of healing and growth as well.
What could be more therapeutic than...
Each and every one of these examples is representative of how New Summit Academy is not just filling up students’ days with scores on tests and credits on transcripts. NSA's teachers and administrators work tirelessly to create “therapeutic” educational experiences for our students. We do this believing that someday soon other schools will catch on to the idea that therapeutic education is not just healing what has “gone wrong” for our students; instead, it is what education is meant to be at its core – an experience that facilitates learning about ourselves, each other, and the world around us so that we might meaningfully contribute in our own unique and positive way.
by Dr. Heather Tracy, Ed.M., Ed.D., Executive Director at New Summit Academy & The Bridge – Costa Rica
During the admissions process at therapeutic boarding schools, there is no shortage of educational symptoms listed: Grades declined. Skipped classes. Suspended. Fell into a negative peer group at school. Bullied. Whatever the case may be, what happens at school is often framed as a symptom of a deeper clinical issue that is the true reason for seeking treatment. What is often not highlighted is just how integrated an adolescent’s educational and personal development experiences actually are. The up side to all of this is that education does not solely serve to alert us to symptoms needing clinical attention, but
rather educational experiences can be important facilitators of healing and growth as well.
What could be more therapeutic than...
- An experience with a teacher who takes the extra time to help you understand concepts or find a solution to a problem?
- A long-term project (you previously would not have finished) stamped with a grade you thought you could not achieve?
- An organizational system that finally works for you to stay on top of your homework and long-term projects?
- A curriculum that makes you feel respected as a learner who does not want to be babysat with busywork geared towards content memorization for a test?
- A schedule that recognizes and incorporates any human’s holistic needs for exercise, arts, socializing, and introspection?
- An extracurricular activity that values more than competition and winning?
- A homework study session driven by you and your peers rather than mom, dad, or hired tutors?
- A school where emotional and physical safety is not just preached but actually practiced?
- An individualized education plan that is not 20 pages of standardized prescribed accommodations written by people who barely know you but rather a unique, thoughtful attempt to engage your unique interests, talents, and strengths in ways that give you ownership and engagement in improving your areas of weakness?
- A teacher who believes enough in your capabilities to continue to challenge you by gradually removing scaffolding once you’ve mastered certain skills – just to show you that you are more than a diagnosis?
- A graduation ceremony that does not rank students according to GPA but rather celebrates each unique journey taken to reach a podium dressed in cap and gown?
Each and every one of these examples is representative of how New Summit Academy is not just filling up students’ days with scores on tests and credits on transcripts. NSA's teachers and administrators work tirelessly to create “therapeutic” educational experiences for our students. We do this believing that someday soon other schools will catch on to the idea that therapeutic education is not just healing what has “gone wrong” for our students; instead, it is what education is meant to be at its core – an experience that facilitates learning about ourselves, each other, and the world around us so that we might meaningfully contribute in our own unique and positive way.
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New Summit Academy’s Integrated Reading Program is intentionally designed to engage students in college-preparatory learning, developing comprehension, analysis and synthesis skills. Each quarter, our community collaborates in choosing and reading a different book or novel. Throughout the quarter, students learn that reading is not only a skill in English class, but applicable throughout their lives. Each teacher guides students in analyzing text through the lens of their area of expertise: Math, Science, Global Citizenship, History, and more.
This quarter – with the polemic elections in the United States serving as a backdrop – our school is reading Jose Saramago’s Seeing. This novel begins with a parliamentary election in which the majority of the populace casts blank ballots. The story revolves around the struggles of the government and its various members as they try to simultaneously understand and destroy the amorphous non-movement of blank-voters.
Throughout the quarter, students and teachers will be working together to develop close-reading skills, and will analyze topics within the novel including democracy, the role of the media in politics, utopias and dystopias, plutocracies, and the effect of education on elections.
We invite everyone in our NSA community to read along and join in the conversation!
Throughout the quarter, students and teachers will be working together to develop close-reading skills, and will analyze topics within the novel including democracy, the role of the media in politics, utopias and dystopias, plutocracies, and the effect of education on elections.
We invite everyone in our NSA community to read along and join in the conversation!
