Saint Mary's Summer Academy • July 6-11 • July 13-18 • July 20-25
Saint Mary's Summer Academy is designed to offer a pre-college experience to students entering grades 8-12 in the fall of 2008. Academically and artistically motivated young women may select any combination from three available courses of study. In addition to the in-depth learning, students have the opportunity to develop meaningful friendships with others who share the same interests. At the same time, students learn about college life, within the safe and enriching environment of Saint Mary's College. The class sizes are limited, and the staff-to-student ratio averages 1:7. Prior to acceptance into Saint Mary's Summer Academy, students must submit a letter of recommendation from a teacher and a short essay entitled "Why I would like to attend the Summer Academy." Forms for these two requirements will be sent to the student upon receipt of her application and payment. After the forms have been completed and promptly returned, they will be evaluated. Once accepted, a confirmation letter will be sent to the student, and the application and payment will be processed. Financial assistance (not to exceed $250) is available for Summer Academy students if certain requirements are met.
Music Conservatory • July 6-11 (CANCELLED)
Students will focus on either piano or vocal technique through classes such as "At the Keyboard" and "Stage Scenes" combined with special topic lectures, music history, and choir. Specialized training will also be provided through master classes and private lessons. All classes are taught by Saint Mary's College faculty. This week of Summer Academy also offers a day camp option.
Minimum requirements: Piano students should be able to perform a standard concert piece by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin. Vocal students should have at least one year of choral or private vocal instruction.
Science and Math Exploration • July 13-18
This year's program focuses on anatomy, physiology, physics, math, and NASA's return to the moon. Students will enjoy challenging academic study in the classroom while using physics to construct a Rube Goldberg machine, studying two and three-dimensional geometrical figures, and building a community on Mars.
Adventures in Writing • July 20-25
Journalism and playwriting are the focus for the last week of Summer Academy. In addition to time in the classroom, students will learn from guest speakers who are experts in print and broadcast media and get hands on experience in the studio and writing for a newspaper. Students will also gain a behind-the-scenes look at Summer Shakespeare productions, spend time with the directors, as well as write and perform their own play.
Typical Schedule
| 7:00 a.m. |
Wake up |
| 7:30 a.m. | Breakfast/Announcements |
| 8:00 a.m. | Class 1 |
| 9:30 a.m. | Class 2 |
| 11:00 a.m. | Computer Lab |
| 12:15 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:30 p.m. | Class 3 |
| 3:00 p.m. | Class 4 |
| 4:15 p.m. | Computer Lab |
| 5:30 p.m. | Dinner |
| 6:30 p.m. | Evening Activity |
| 10:30 p.m. | Head for Bed |
Saint Mary's Summer Academy Classes
At the Keyboard
Learn musical skills by playing two-piano literature with a partner. Piano partners are assigned the first day, music distributed and rehearsals coached by Dr. Jacob.
Lessons (Piano or Vocal)
Perfect pieces you know or explore new music suited to your talents.
Choir
Students will rehearse and prepare a variety of choral music in two to four parts, both sacred and secular, in various styles.
Special Topics
New subjects in music each day include "Reading the Score," "Conducting Techniques," and "What Happened to 20th Century Music."
Master Class (Piano or Vocal)
Perform for your peers and instructors in a group setting. Discuss issues of technique and expression together.
Our American Greats
A music history session focusing each day on a different American composer: Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein and George Crumb.
Stage Scenes
Sing and act with your peers to meet the most famous female roles in Mozart operas. Why is the pageboy Cherubino really a girl? What makes Despina so smart? What does "Batti, batti" really mean to us today? Or sing in ensembles from Little Women, Hairspray, and other Broadway greats.
Anatomy and Physiology
Students will study the systems of the human body, learning the parts of the system and how the system serves the body. Hands-on activities include making a model of the systems, attending a field trip about the heart, and performing a dissection of a frog to apply what they have learned to a real life example.
Exploring the Mathematics of Science and Industry
Students will connect mathematical concepts from algebra and geometry by linking new ideas to ideas they have previously learned. Students will study fractals, building an Icosahedron, discover relationships between a circle and regular polygons, explore Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry and more! They will further connect their mathematical learning to real-world contexts when they participate in a hands-on learning lab at the Musium of Science and Industry in Chicago.
NASA - Robotic Exploration: Destination Moon and Mars
This week we will explore NASA plans for returning to the Moon. From there the exploration will continue to Mars. With the assistance of robotics many scientific missions can be performed without endangering humans. Learn the techniques for use of robotics and build your own!
The Physics of Simple Machines
What can you do with scraps of wood, pvc pipe, duct tape, and other odds and ends? Create a Rube Goldberg Machine, of course. Using teamwork create a multi-step machine that performs the most basic of tasks.
Journalism will be a hands-on real-world experirence. The week will include print, as well as broadcast, journalism with forays into the world of television and radio. Bring story ideas and be ready for writing, editing and adventure.
Playwriting
Student writers will gain practical experience by developing a short play. Techniques will include studeis in monologues, scenes andn one-act play structure. Writers will also experiment with techniques in dialogue, plot, character, and conflict, as well as working with actors and directors. Students will produce and showcase at the end of the week. (performance is encouraged but not mandatory.)
Saint Mary's Summer Academy Staff
Director: Andrea Dunn
Andrea is a 2000 graduate of Saint Mary's College. While attending Saint Mary's, her love of learning led her to pursue a degree in elementary education with a minor in mathematics. She currently lives in the South Bend area and teaches fifth grade at Mary Frank Elementary.
Dr. Jeffrey Jacob
Described by the Warsaw Music Journal as "unquestionably one of the greatest performers of the 20th-century music, and the New York Times as "an artist of intense concentration and conviction," Jeffrey Jacob received a Master of Music from the Julliard School and a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory. He has performed solo recitals worldwide, and has recorded over 80 works for solo piano as well as piano and orchestra including his critically acclaimed series of CDs of the complete piano music of Samuel Barber and George Crumb and major works by Bela Bartok. As a composer, Jacob has written three wymphonies, three piano concertos, and numberous works for piano and chamber ensemble.
Dr. Nancy Menk
Nancy Menk, professor and cirector of choral activities, earned degrees in music education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a Master and Doctor of Music in Arts in choral conducting from theh University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. At Saint Mary's College, Dr. Menk conducts the Women's Choir, the Collegiate Choir, and prepares the Madrigal Singers for the annual Christmas Madrigal Dinners. She is the founder and conductor of the South Bend Chamber Singers, an ensemble of 30 select singers from the Michiana area. Dr. Menk also serves as conductor of the Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus.
Dr. Menk serves regularly as a guest conductor and choral adjudicator throughout the United States, and has spent two summers teaching and conducting in Hong Kong. She has also conducted all-state choirs in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania.
Dr. Laurel Thomas
Soprano Laurel Thomas graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she studies voice, piano, and cello. Her masters degree is from the University of Illinois and doctorate from the University of Texas in Austin. Before coming to Saint Mary's College, Thomas lived in Texas, where she soloed with music organizations and orchestras including the San Antonio Symphony, Songmakers, Texas Back Choir, the Mid-Texas Symphony, and others. Since arriving at Saint Mary's College in 2001, Thomas has performed with the South Bend Chamber Singers, Fleur de Lys, the South Bend Symphony, the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestr and has sung frequent recitals on campus. Thomas teaches voice and opera at Saint Mary's College.
Douglas Culp
Douglas Culp received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Mich. and his Master of Science in education from Indiana University at South Bend. He currently is the principal and teaches science for grades 7 through 12 at First Baptist Christian School in Mishawaka, Ind.
Pat Chrenka
Pat Chrenka is a seventh and eighth grade science teacher at LaSalle Intermediate Academy in South Bend, Ind. She lives in Granger, Ind. with her husband and son, who is a senior at Penn High School. Her daughter is a senior at Colorado State University, majoring in secondary science education. Pat moved to the area five years ago from Minneapolis, Minn. She has a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Master of Arts in elementary education with an endorsement in science. She is also a NASA educator and trains yearly at one of the NASA facilities, the latest being the Return of the Stardust Mission. This will be her fourth year teaching at the Saint Mary's Summer Academy.
Colleen O'Brien
Colleen O'Brien has been a teacher of mathematics since her graduation in 1999 from Saint Mary's College. She has taught junior high math at Holy Cross Grade School for the past eight years (general mathematics to algebra 1) and mathematics at Davenport University's Foundations of Learning Department for the past five years. Her favorite hobbies include gardening, running, and playing cards. She has been married for six years and is the proud mother of two daughters and two cats.
Linda DeCicco Antonazzi
Linda DeCicco Antonazzi teaches English at Riley High School in South Bend, Ind. She began her teaching career in 1998 after working as a journalist at the South Bend Tribune for 17 years, where she was the arts and entertainment editor. A published poet and short story writer, she wrote SLF Album: An Informal History of Notre Dame's Sophomore Literary Festival 1967-1996, published by Notre Dame Press in 1997. Her poetry has been published in the literary magazines Flying Island, No Exit, Common Ground Review, Curbside Review, Poetry Motel, and Spire Press. She has also taught a newspaper course for the Upward Bound program at the University of Notre Dame.
Susan Brabant Baxter
Susan Brabant Baxter is joining Summer Academy for the first time. The previous five years, she was the drama instructor for Fine Arts Camp. She is an experienced actor, playwright, and teacher. Her most recent work is a ten-minute play, Beyond, featured in the 24/7 Festival at New World Arts in Goshen, Ind. Her acting credits include appearances at the Indiana RepertoryTheatre, Brown County Playhouse in Nashville, Ind., Creede Repertory Theatre, The Denver Center Theatre, and Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival. Susan teaches playwriting and journalism at Saint Mary's College, and also teaches in the College Writing Proficiency Program. She is married to Saint Mary's Director of Special Events Richard Baxter, and they have two children, Miranda (Saint Mary's College '09), and Dan.
Emily Croft is a rising senior at Saint Mary's College.The Bloomington, Ill. native is a history major with a minor in secondary education; concentrating in economics and political science with a middle school endorsement. Emily is a member of the Notre Dame Marching Band and is a peer minister for Saint Mary's Campus Ministry.
Kristin Hingstrum is a rising senior at Saint Mary's College from Fulton, Ill. She is double majoring in art and psychology and a dance minor. Kristin is a member of the Saint Mary's College Dance Company and president of the SMC Irish Dance Club.
Camp Forms
Summer Academy Handbook
Over-the-Counter Permission Slip
