Summer Scholars participants spend two intense weeks in one of twenty programs of study from Literature to Entrepreneurship. In this prestigious program, where two hundred and eighty students were selected out of over 1500 applicants, Dana attended the Life Science Program and Griffin attended The Contemporary Church and Its Evolving Mission.  The class sizes are small and the personal attention from Notre Dame faculty is high, where students attend class for six hours a day and live in the dorms with other high school juniors and seniors from around the world.  The coursework was both rigorous and rewarding. Students completed work for their track outside designated class times, as they would in any college setting. Yet there was ample time to enjoy the social facets of college life, especially those unique to Notre Dame. Participants praise the program for its capacity to bring them out of their comfort zone with challenging academics, as well as inspire and excite them by providing a taste of what college life can be in all aspects.  Students are eligible to receive one college credit upon completion of a program track.

 

Dana and Griffin, joined by their parents, then stayed an additional week and attended the Notre Dame Alumni Family Volunteer Camp, where they stayed in the dorms and provided volunteer work throughout the South Bend community in several ministries assisting the homeless, aging, autistic, and others in need.