Years ago, during my Ph.D. program, I spent a summer teaching for a fancy, expensive college prep program for high school students. Offering pre-college summer enrichment, high schoolers stayed on campus in now-empty dorms, sampled a few college-level courses, and took fun weekend excursions. They were exposed to interesting courses beyond those offered in high school, fostered their ever-growing sense of independence, connected with like-minded peers, and sampled college life, and of course, parents were firmly on board for continued learning and college exploration at an “elite” university.
I taught an Introduction to Psychology course. Over the course of 4 weeks, we explored the brain, the iconic theories of Sigmund Freud, psychological disorders, and the whole gamut. It was virtually the same course that my college Freshman and Sophomores took with a much shorter timeline. All in all, it was a great experience for myself and the students. I kept in touch with a few of them. Some fell in love with Michigan and later enrolled in the Freshman class. Others went to college elsewhere….
