Experience Christendom |
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A life-changing adventure awaits you in the summer of 2013.
Students who will be entering their junior or senior year of high school in the fall of 2013 are welcome to register for these programs.
Testimonies from past program participants
The Program
This program, designed for rising high school juniors and seniors, is unlike any other college summer program. This program is going to be one of the best, if not THE BEST, experiences of your life, hands down. Other programs promise deep intellectual experiences, or fun and exciting activities. Christendom's Experience Christendom Summer Program is so much more, you just have to experience it for yourself to truly understand!
Each year, through its Experience Christendom Summer Program (ECSP), Christendom College welcomes over 200 rising high school juniors and seniors to its campus to experience what life would be like as a Christendom student.
And every year, students are deeply affected by what they experience during their week-long program. Participants are given the rare opportunity to expand their intellectual horizons, as well as to experience a truly Catholic culture, where Catholicism is the “air that they breathe.” If you are having doubts, read the testimonies from real-life high school students who were blown away by what they experienced! (View pictures from past sessions)Students spend their mornings taking a variety of liberal arts classes (Philosophy, English, History, and Theology), then, after Mass and lunch, students spend their afternoons and evenings enjoying a number of recreational and social events. Activities generally include a canoe trip down the Shenandoah River, a hike and cookout on Skyline Drive, swing and contra dancing, making smores over a bonfire, bowling, participating in a talent show, eating a steak dinner at the Admissions Director’s house, and attending an Irish barn dance at College President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell’s house. These activities are absolutely amazing and show the participants that you can still have good old fashioned fun in a safe, moral, and Catholic environment!
One of the highlights of the program is the opportunity the students have to meet other young Catholics like themselves who are trying to live good, Catholic, well-balanced lives. Through this program, they make friends for life, and learn more about all that Christendom has to offer. In fact, students continually say that they feel closer to their new friends whom they only knew for a week, than with their life-long friends from back home. Why? Find out for yourself by attending one of these programs next summer. There is no real way to explain it - you just need to experience it.
The Counselors
While on campus, the summer program participants will be led by 8 current Christendom College students, called Counselors. Many of the counselors have themselves participated in the summer program while in high school and are eager to show others how much Christendom has to offer. Admissions Director Tom McFadden directs all five of these exciting programs. MEET THE COUNSELORS.
The Courses
- Scripture Study/Theology
College President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell (or Professor Eric Jenislawski- session 3 and 5) leads the students in a thorough study of one of the four Gospels, giving great insights into deep theological questions.
- Philosophy
Taught by Dr. John Cuddeback(or Prof. Michael Brown - session 5), this class will try and answer some of life’s greatest questions. What is happiness? Friendship? Why study philosophy and what effect can it have on our lives?
- The Moral Imagination in Literature
Taught by either Professor Sharon Hickson, Dr. Thomas Stanford, or Dr. Patrick Keats, this course will focus on the theme of men and women faced with the need to make moral choices, often in difficult and agonizing situations. The students will read and discuss a series of short poems and stories which dramatize this theme in various contexts and settings: ancient and modern; political and social; scientific and religious.
- The West and Christianity
History professor Dr. Brendan McGuire (or Professor Bracy Bersnak - session 5) will provide students with an introduction to the glorious achievements of the West, and to the role of Christianity therein. From the Greeks and Romans, who laid the foundations for Christian culture, to the Franks, Byzantines, and Crusaders who defended it, students will come to understand the triumphs of their cultural and religious forbearers, while deepening their own Christian identity.
Activities
Dates
Five one-week sessions are scheduled for the summer of 2013, with approximately 44 students in
each of the sessions. (All programs were filled by the beginning of May in 2012)
- Session 1: June 16-22 (Sunday to Saturday)
- (Full as of 3/22/13)
- Session 2: June 23-29 (Sunday to Saturday)
- No more spots for women, 1 more opening for men (as of 5/22/13)
- Session 3: July 7-13 (Sunday to Saturday)
- No more spots for women, 11 more openings for men (as of 5/22/13)
- Session 4: July 14-20 (Sunday to Saturday)
- 10 more spots for women, 10 more openings for men (as of 5/22/13)
- Session 5: July 21-27 (Sunday to Saturday)
- 5 more spots for women, 7 more openings for men (as of 5/22/13)
Take a look at the tentative weekly schedule (PDF).
Expenses
The all inclusive fee of $400 includes tuition, room and board, books and activity fees. Financial assistance is available to anyone who requests it. Please request financial assistance prior to registering by calling the Admissions Office at 800-877-5456 - ask for Tom or Sadie.
Forms to fill out and return to the Admissions Office
All of these forms (with the exception of the "Items to Bring form") need to be filled out and returned to the Admissions Office AT LEAST 2 WEEKS PRIOR to the program start date:
Rules & Policies / Dress Code Requirements / Waiver / Arrival Form / Health Form
REGISTER ONLINE for the 2013 programs
Location
Christendom College is located outside the town of Front Royal in the beautiful and historically rich Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It is the site of the north entrance to the famed Skyline Drive—a spectacular scenic trip through the Blue Ridge Mountains—and lies only 65 miles west of Washington, DC. Students can fly in to Dulles Airport (IAD) and the College will pick them up. Additionally, students may fly in to Reagan National in DC, but they would then have to take the metro to the Vienna Metro Station (Orange Line) where the College would pick them up.Who will survive this summmer?
Watch more videos (including testimonies) about this exciting program on YouTube.
Testimonies from past program participants