Pre-College Summer Programs
Marlboro College’s Pre-College Summer Programs offer young adults (age 15-19) the opportunity to study with Marlboro College faculty members and to build relationships with a group of other students passionate about learning, in the classroom and out. Space is limited to 12 participants per program, creating vibrant communities with room for every voice.
What to Expect
Participants will spend all day with a faculty member (8:30am - 4:30pm, Monday - Friday) where they will get an introduction to Marlboro’s interdisciplinary, hands-on approach to college academic work. Depending on the topic, an average day might include reading and discussing an article, doing a lab experiment, writing and performing a scene, or solving a moral quandary using game theory. Groups will come together Saturday to present their discoveries to other students and faculty.
During afternoons and evenings, plan to have fun and explore Marlboro’s approach to creating intentional living communities. With college student RAs and the assistant director (who lives at the dorm), participants will help create a weekly dorm charter and contribute to planning evening activities on and off campus. In past summers, activities have ranged from game nights, to ice cream at the Chelsea Royal, to a Friday night campfire / open mic night. We ask participants to leave cell phones, tablets, computers and other screens at home, so they can be fully active and present community members.
"There's just a really good energy all around. The activities really pushed me to try to be my best self and the staff was really welcoming. I've never laughed so hard in my life." –2014 participant
"He had an amazing week that has truly changed his entire life outlook. We are so thankful!" –Parent of a 2014 Participant
Summer SEssions 2015
- Session I: July 5-July 11: Food and Farming in Vermont | Walking in Someone Else's Shoes
- Session II: July 12-July 18: Game Theory and Social Change | You(th) Can Make a Difference
- Session III: July 19-July 25: Ways of Knowing | The Art of Persuasion
- Session IV: July 26-August 1: DIY Chemistry | History of Western Cuisine
More Information
- Costs and Financial Aid
- Past Participant Testimonials
- Weekly Schedule, Transportation, Housing and other Program Details
Application deadlines and details
Online Application and Instructions
1st Priority Deadline: March 15, 2015—Complete applications received by or on this date will receive an automatic 10 percent discount on the program fee
2nd Priority Deadline: May 1, 2015—Complete applications received between March 16 and May 1 will receive an automatic 5 percent discount on the program fee
Final Application Deadline: June 5, 2015
Please note a change in the application process for 2015: 300-500 word statement of interests will now need to be uploaded at the time the online application is completed, rather than being submitted separately by email.
Questions?
Ariel Brooks, Marlboro College director of non-degree programs, or Angie Hamilton, application and enrollment coordinator, are happy to answer questions and can be reached at: summer@marlboro.edu, or 802-451-7118.
2015 Session I: July 5 - July 11
Food and Farming in Vermont
Faculty Member: Expedition Education Institute, environmental studies
How can we sustain ourselves in healthy ways? Local agriculture is a way of producing food that is healthy for us, for the land, and for communities. We will investigate the growth of local agriculture by visiting and camping at some of the farms and producers found near Marlboro. Through talks, tours, discussions, and getting our hands dirty, we will learn of healthier ways of nourishing ourselves and how the communities we live in nourish us socially, emotionally, and spiritually. In our time camping, eating, living, and playing together, we will explore the importance of community and the ways that we can create and sustain it. Through activities and reflection, we will learn community-building skills and investigate the gifts we have to share. NOTE: Students in this program will get to camp out of Expedition Education Institute’s modified school bus for the week. They will not spend any nights in the dorm, but will have access to showers at some, if not all, of the camping locations. Marlboro can loan sleeping bags and other equipment to students, if needed.
Walking in Someone Else's Shoes
Faculty (guest): Rosalie Purvis, theater
We will explore a range of techniques for character creation, from movement to writing to ancient mask to Stanislavsky, while discussing the many implications of "becoming someone else." We will address what happens when we create characters that are very unlike ourselves, and also what happens when we create characters that are close to our own more obvious identity traits. We will study techniques to transform our presentation in terms if physicality, age, and how personality impacts character. We will also address larger implications of crossing identity lines such as transgressive cross-racial casting, casting along the gender spectrum, creating characters based on historical figures or archetypes. The course will culminate in each student creating a performance based on his or her character followed by character interviews and a group project.
2015 Session III: July 19 - July 25
Ways of Knowing
Faculty Member: Amer Latif, comparative religion
What is knowledge, and how do we get it? How might eating, sleeping, reading, writing, and singing be considered ways of knowing? Through participating in a range of activities such as meditation, yoga, cooking a meal, taking a walk in the woods, chocolate tasting, singing, reading short religious and philosophical texts, and writing, we will explore the nature of knowledge and the ways in which we come to know. Together, we will challenge conventional ideas of what it means to know and how one acquires knowledge. In addition to focusing on the relationship between head and heart, reason and imagination, we will pay special attention to the place and role of the body in the acquisition of knowledge.
The ARt of Persuasion
Faculty Member: Meg Mott, politics
This class uses debate formats and theater techniques to increase your skills of persuasion. Part of the time we'll study the anatomy and performance of argument. You'll learn how to build a compelling argument and how to gracefully counter the opposition. Part of the time we will rehearse political conflicts, where you'll learn how to turn opposition into opportunity. By the end of the week, you will have more skills as a public speaker and more tools to end stale debates. You might also develop a taste for the joy of watching a deeply-held position blossom into an entirely new opinion. That's what happens when we open ourselves to the art of persuasion.
2015 Session II: July 12 - July 18
You(th) Can Make a Difference
Faculty (guest): Angela Berkfield, ACT for Social Justice
Want to make a difference and don’t know where to start? Or are you already a change-maker and want to learn theory and skills to be more effective? Join with youth leaders from around the country to talk about building social movements. Working with Angela Berkfield, founder of ACT for Social Justice, and other dynamic local activists and organizers, participants will examine ways that social movements have shifted power and advanced human rights. We’ll focus particularly on the vital role that young people play in social movements and work with youth to develop skills needed to bring about change. Come prepared for an active and thought-provoking week. Make sure to pack your passion, energy, and ideas – we’ll work together to add our voices to the social movements that inspire us.
Game Theory and Social Change
Faculty Member: Matt Ollis, math
What can mathematics tell us about the choices we make and how can it inform better decisions? Our approach will be broad: We'll become active game designers within the Heroscape game system, play and analyze a variety of other games, hold mock auctions and other hands-on activities, and analyze the mathematics of voting systems and political power. We'll also keep an eye on what aspects of decision-making mathematics has little to say about and collaborate with the concurrent session of "You Can Make a Difference." No prior mathematical skills are needed or assumed.
2015 Session IV: July 26 - August 1
DIY Chemistry
Faculty Member: Todd Smith, chemistry
Chemistry labs can be full of fancy instruments. But what's inside those machines, and how do they work? In this course we'll find out when we build our own simple instruments and use them to perform some standard laboratory analyses. For example, we'll use a Lego spectrophotometer to measure phosphorus—an essential plant nutrient—in soil samples. We will also create a simple microfluidics device to measure amino acids in leaf extracts. Another project will be to build a data logger—an Arduino-based instrument programmed to measure and record light and temperature. We'll use this data logger to study the growth of plants in the college's greenhouse. To understand our instruments we'll need to discuss underlying chemistry concepts, as well as principles of electronics and some simple programming. This course will therefore weave together classroom discussion, instrument design and construction, sample collection, and laboratory analysis.
History of Western Cuisine
Faculty Member: Adam Franklin-Lyons, history
Why do you eat what you eat? What does "American" food mean to you? What did dieting mean centuries ago? We will read recipes and historical accounts of food, discuss major historical changes in the cuisines of Europe and the United States, and, of course, cook and eat dishes from centuries past. We will cover the importance of spices to medieval European food, the changes to global food consumption brought about by the contact between Europe and the Americas, and think about the different influences on contemporary fare in the United States. There will also be room to explore specific food interests that students bring with them, so bring your appetite.