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Our talented Experiential Educators are committed to engaging students in healthy activities based on student interests and passions. NSA students are able to create clubs of their own, using staff mentors and the proposal process, so that they can engage in meaninful activities during their time at NSA.
At the start of each quarter, staff owners of each club organize a Club Fair, when students are able to learn about each club’s activities and sign up to participate for the upcoming ten weeks.
Some of our current clubs are dedicated to: Rock Climbing, Cooking, Ultimate Frisbee, Visual Arts, Surfing, Gardening and Fishing.
At the start of each quarter, staff owners of each club organize a Club Fair, when students are able to learn about each club’s activities and sign up to participate for the upcoming ten weeks.
Some of our current clubs are dedicated to: Rock Climbing, Cooking, Ultimate Frisbee, Visual Arts, Surfing, Gardening and Fishing.
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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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Students and staff who spent their winter holidays with New Summit Academy had no shortage of exciting activities to keep them busy. The two-week holiday break was divided into two separate Aventuras: one week on the wild Pacific coast of Costa Rica, and one week of adrenaline-pumping adventure in the Arenal Volcano area.
On the coast, students surfed, spotted wildlife while kayaking among mangroves, and rode mountain bikes on the beach. The areas surrounding Arenal Volcano are famous for their outdoor activities, and students took full advantage, rappelling and rock climbing, zip-lining, horseback riding, and white-water rafting their way through the countryside.
In between these Aventuras, students and staff gathered at one of our dedicated teacher’s homes in Atenas to celebrate the holiday, sharing a traditional meal and exchanging gifts.
NSA hopes that everyone in our extended family had a wonderful holiday as we kick off 2017 with renewed energy and optimism for another banner year!
On the coast, students surfed, spotted wildlife while kayaking among mangroves, and rode mountain bikes on the beach. The areas surrounding Arenal Volcano are famous for their outdoor activities, and students took full advantage, rappelling and rock climbing, zip-lining, horseback riding, and white-water rafting their way through the countryside.
In between these Aventuras, students and staff gathered at one of our dedicated teacher’s homes in Atenas to celebrate the holiday, sharing a traditional meal and exchanging gifts.
NSA hopes that everyone in our extended family had a wonderful holiday as we kick off 2017 with renewed energy and optimism for another banner year!
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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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NSA students and staff have been getting into the holiday spirit by giving back to two of our most important Costa Rican community connections: Hogar de Vida and our Homestay families.
Hogar de Vida, a home for orphaned children in our neighborhood, has embraced our school and provides our students with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to develop unique relationships. NSA hosted a Christmas party for these children and the aunties who care for them, featuring a clown that made balloon hats, plenty of presents and a delicious lunch.
Our Homestay families provide our students the opportunity to create meaningful bonds as they engage with their “second families” in cultural activities, sporting events, parties and daily life around the house. NSA students and staff invited families to campus for a celebratory picnic of arroz con pollo and picadillo, and gave gifts to these families as small tokens of how much they are appreciated.
Happy Holidays to Hogar de Vida, our Homestay families, and our entire NSA community!
Hogar de Vida, a home for orphaned children in our neighborhood, has embraced our school and provides our students with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to develop unique relationships. NSA hosted a Christmas party for these children and the aunties who care for them, featuring a clown that made balloon hats, plenty of presents and a delicious lunch.
Our Homestay families provide our students the opportunity to create meaningful bonds as they engage with their “second families” in cultural activities, sporting events, parties and daily life around the house. NSA students and staff invited families to campus for a celebratory picnic of arroz con pollo and picadillo, and gave gifts to these families as small tokens of how much they are appreciated.
Happy Holidays to Hogar de Vida, our Homestay families, and our entire NSA community!
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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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Students and staff brought their own sense of holiday spirit to the cloud forests of Costa Rica, trekking in reindeer antlers and Santa hats – definitely a first in NSA history. After a challenging hike through the mountains, the crew was rewarded with exhilarating Class IV rapids of the world-famous Pacuare River, and even had a fish jump into their raft during the whitewater adventure.
Students worked with their teachers to learn about the importance of interdependence, both in this unique ecosystem and in their own lives. The Cloud Forest students’ culminating challenge was their “cool kid” contest, a feat of endurance designed to test who could stand beneath a frigid waterfall, making for truly memorable photo opportunities!
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The third Integrated Aventura – based in the rainforest of Corcovado National Park – is a wilderness and wildlife adventure. Students study treefalls, light gaps and forest succession so that they can better understand and appreciate the truly magnificent biodiversity of this area.
As they hiked, students and staff encountered macaws, toucans, three species of monkeys, a Baird's tapir and – a highlight for everyone – a puma resting in the forest. Even in the rainforest, our students contribute their own uniqueness, and managed to convert a nearby river into a day spa, complete with a variety of burbling pools and volcanic mud masks!
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The “Sweet Gulf” of southern Costa Rica provides the setting for students’ second Integrated Aventura, as they kayak around this untouched marine wilderness. NSA’s teachers provide hands-on learning experiences throughout the Aventura, with students learning about subjects in which they are immersed: the tides, coral reefs, watersheds, and mangrove ecosystems.
During daily paddles, our students were accompanied by dolphins and sea turtles, did their best to bring in dinner with hand lines, and marveled at the bioluminescence during a night crossing of the Gulf.
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The first in NSA’s series of Integrated Aventuras engages students in an orientation to the culture of Costa Rica as they perform community service to protect the flora and fauna of their host country.
On this Aventura, students worked together to protect key sea turtle nesting sites, reforesting important coastal areas, performing night patrols to monitor nesting, as well as collecting turtle eggs and releasing new hatchlings into the Pacific.
On this Aventura, students worked together to protect key sea turtle nesting sites, reforesting important coastal areas, performing night patrols to monitor nesting, as well as collecting turtle eggs and releasing new hatchlings into the Pacific.
Students were able to interact with researchers from Cornell University, and were commended by the coordinator of Osa Conservation on their resiliency and work ethic throughout the challenging but rewarding service work.
