By Aaron de Toledo

 

 

                Almost 1,000 students are using  the upper school campus this summer, more than the 850 who show up during the school year.

Jim Patterson, director of summer programs says that about 300 students come to practice for varsity sports teams and almost 700 arrive each day for summer programs.

                These summer programs target Harvard Westlake students along with students from other public and private schools in the area.  The camps for younger kids are attended by many students from “feeder schools,” such as John Thomas Dye and Curtis.

The most popular academic summer program offered is study skills, taught by Ian Ulmer, a middle school history and technology teacher.  This is Ulmer’s second year teaching the class and there are 34 students enrolled in it.  The class’s goals are to teach students to listen, read, and take notes more effectively and Ulmer said many teachers don’t teach their students these skills during the school year as they are spending more time on content. His biggest tip was that the most important time in any class is the last five minutes.

Even more popular than the academic courses are the sports courses and the most popular one is the basketball camp taught by Jason and Jarron Collins ’96, who  both play in the NBA.

Along with the academic courses offered there are three courses offered for credit.  These course are Spanish 1, French 1, and Geometry, they are six-week programs that meet every day for four hours.  They can not be taken instead of taking a class during the school year but can be taken to improve placement for the following year.

Drama teacher Christopher Moore offers a three week acting workshop.  He brings in professional actors who teach the students in this intense program and more than 20 students are in his course.