Students
NMH Summer Session seeks motivated students who want a challenging academic experience. Students come to our campus from many places and backgrounds; in the more than 100 years since the summer session’s beginning, we have welcomed students from all 50 US states and 116 countries. We believe strongly that understanding, cooperation, and mutual respect develop within this diverse student body. Living with people from various backgrounds is a deeply enriching experience, one that many students feel to be among the most rewarding and exciting aspects of their time here.
Faculty
Working with the students is a staff of 75 adults. Major courses have two teachers: an experienced master teacher and a teaching intern. Master teachers, drawn from Northfield Mount Hermon School’s faculty, as well as from other secondary schools and universities, provide the superior instruction that makes our courses stimulating and fulfilling. Approximately 30 college seniors and graduate students are appointed as teaching interns each summer to assist in all aspects of the program—major and minor courses, sports, recreational activities, and dorm life. Selected from a large group of applicants, these outstanding young men and women bring special perspectives and vitality to all areas of NMH Summer Session.
Academics
The learning environment here is ideal. Classes are small, averaging 10 students, with a master teacher and a teaching intern. Small classes with two teachers are excellent settings for individualized instruction. This personal attention is one reason our students discover they can enjoy courses that explore a particular subject in depth, courses in which they acquire additional knowledge and enhanced skills, as well as the self-confidence and motivation for further schoolwork. All this leads to an atmosphere that is both stimulating and relaxed. Living and working together, the students, teaching interns, and master teachers work collaboratively in a productive and fun academic environment.
NMH Summer Session offers traditional courses, as well as enrichment courses not generally found in a high school curriculum. College Prep Program students select one full-morning course, Middle School Program students take two half-morning courses, and English as a Second Language Program students have one full-morning course. Many of the College Prep courses complete in one summer what an academic-year course would accomplish in an entire school year. Intensive and fast-moving, they are designed for able students who are willing to commit themselves to challenging study during the summer. Half-morning courses provide the option of exploring two subjects. All courses have daily homework necessary to reinforce the learning that occurs in the classroom.
While our recreational activities are many and varied, they do not take precedence over the student’s commitment to the classroom. Whether a student chooses to take a course for credit or enrichment, the academic experience is demanding and challenging.
We encourage students from nearby communities to take advantage of the educational opportunities we offer by attending as day students.
Day students are invited to participate in all aspects of campus life and are welcome on campus from breakfast until 7:30 pm Sunday through Friday and until 11:30 pm on Saturday. Day students who occasionally wish to stay on campus after 7:30 pm, or overnight on Saturday, may make special arrangements with their house directors.
The daily schedule is a busy one, but opportunities for leisure time and recreational activities do exist. During the evening between dinner and study period, students can take part in student-versus-faculty competitions in soccer or softball. The pool, gymnasium, tennis courts, fitness center, soccer fields, Frisbee golf course, and other facilities are available for community use.
Students who wish to have musical instruction may sign up for individual lessons, which are scheduled during their free time. Guitars may be rented from a local music store, and pianos are available; any other instruments must be brought by the student.
Wednesday afternoons and weekends from 11:30 am Saturday to 7:30 pm Sunday are free periods as well. Opportunities to participate in dances, movies, talent shows, and other activities are plentiful. There are also optional trips to Boston, New York City, beaches, Six Flags amusement park, concerts at Tanglewood, professional soccer matches, museums, and shopping malls.
Because personal growth includes assuming responsibility for self and community, all students participate in the work program. Each student is required to work a short time doing a job that is essential to the operation of the school (for example, cleaning in the dorm, assisting in the library or mail center, working on the NMH farm). Participation in the work program helps to build a feeling of community, concern for others, and respect for the work that must be done.
Located as we are near a variety of colleges and universities, we can provide excellent opportunities for students to get acquainted with some of them. Interested students are able to make Wednesday-afternoon visits to some of these New England campuses.
In addition, our annual summer College Fair brings to our campus representatives from more than 100 colleges and universities from throughout the United States.
Our facilities include dormitories; classroom buildings; a language lab with modern multimedia stations; a library with 40,000 physical items and electronic publications and databases; a computer center; a media resource center; a student center, which houses a snack bar, school store, pool tables, and video games; a performing arts center with concert halls, a theater, music practice rooms, dance studios, and art classrooms and studios; a gymnasium with basketball and volleyball courts, fitness center, and swimming pool; outdoor volleyball, basketball, and tennis courts; and a health center with inpatient and outpatient facilities.
Housing
Most rooms accommodate two students. Furnishings include bed, bureau, desk, and chair for each student. Internet access is provided in each student room.
Campus Safety
Well-trained, uniformed campus safety officers are on duty, keeping school residents and facilities secure at all times. Exterior dormitory doors are locked throughout the day and night, requiring those entering to have a proper key card that is individually programmed to permit them entrance into specified buildings. Safety officers and the health center staff are equipped and trained to deal with medical emergencies. All house directors and house staff members are trained in first aid and CPR. Safety officers also respond to any other type of emergency and coordinate with local fire and police departments as necessary.
Health Services
A resident physician or nurse practitioner and registered nurses operate our daily outpatient clinic and are available for emergency care on a 24-hour basis. Facilities for inpatient care are also offered. Minor illnesses or injuries are cared for at the school.
Conduct
NMH Summer Session students are expected to participate fully in the program and to act in ways that show consideration for the needs and rights of others, conform to the laws of the state, and are within the rules of our boarding school community. Each student is expected to read the Summer Session Handbook, which is sent to all students upon enrollment. Failure to meet the stated standards will lead to restrictions or dismissal.
Clothing
Clothes must be presentable, non-revealing, properly fitted, and in good repair. While evenings are often cool, days can become quite hot. Although NMH Summer Session does not provide a clothing list, students usually wear T-shirts and jeans or shorts. For off-campus trips to the theatre or worship services, students are expected to dress appropriately.
Credit
Students may take courses for credit at their own school or purely for enrichment. All students receive a written evaluation, with a grade, at the end of the session. A student seeking academic credit should make arrangements in advance with his/her school; when the student completes the course, the evaluation and grade and a course description will be sent to his/her school upon written request. The final decision on whether credit is to be granted is the prerogative of the student’s school.
For NMH Credit
Current NMH students can elect a course for which they do not have time during the academic year or one that fulfills a requirement, provides room in their schedule for study abroad, or accelerates their academic progress toward advanced placement courses. Satisfactory completion of one of the following NMH Summer Session offerings earns academic-year NMH credit. A maximum of one credit may be earned each summer, but there is no limit to the number of summers NMH students may earn credits by attending NMH Summer Session courses. Subsequent course placement is determined by the teacher, in consultation with the NMH department chair. Many current NMH students choose to attend each summer.
College Prep Program:
US History – one NMH history and social science credit
Economics – one NMH history and social science credit
Introduction to Psychology – one NMH history and social science credit
Literature and Composition – one NMH English credit
Algebra I – one NMH math credit
Geometry – one NMH math credit
Algebra II – one NMH math credit
Precalculus – one NMH math credit
Calculus – one NMH math credit
Biology – one NMH science credit
Chemistry – one NMH science credit
Physics – one NMH science credit
English as a Second Language:
Testing earns placement and possible credit.
For building skills or pursuing special interests:
The following can be important for future academic work or for general enrichment:
Academic Writing
Creative Writing
American Society and Culture
Writing and the Outdoors