Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

What are credit courses?
Many of our college prep courses (those marked with an asterisk *) may be taken for academic-year credit. Many students are able to satisfy requirements during the five weeks for full-year courses, such as U.S. history, science, or mathematics. A report with a letter grade and a complete course description are sent to parents at the end of the Summer Session, and the awarding of credit is determined by the student's academic-year school.

How much homework will I have?
This will vary depending on your courses. Rising Scholars should anticipate two hours of homework, college prep students up to three hours of homework, and ESOL students two to three hours of homework per day.

Are courses held every day?
All students, regardless of program, attend classes Monday through Friday and personal development workshops on Saturday mornings. Credit course students finish at 11:30 am on Saturdays. There are no minor courses or sports on Wednesday or Saturday afternoons or on Sundays.

View the daily schedule for College Prep and Rising Scholar students.

Can I change my courses?
It is possible to change a major course or minor course during the first days of the Summer Session. Only the director or associate director may authorize such a change. No changes may be made after the second meeting of a course.

All absences must be approved by the Summer Session Office. Attendance is required at all classes, sports, and work assignments. Students should not request to be excused except in cases of illness. In such cases, they may be excused only by the school physician or nurses. Students who miss an excessive number of classes are liable for dismissal.

Summer Session students live in one of six dorms, with separate dorms for College Prep (grades 10 to 12) and Rising Scholar (grades 7 to 9). Each dorm is managed by a dorm head and several teaching interns, who are college seniors or recent graduates. 

You’ll share a dorm room with one other student. Your room will be furnished and equipped with bed linens, a pillow, a blanket, and towels. We provide a laundry service, and laundry machines are also available in the dorms.

NMH is famous for its good food: In our Alumni Hall dining center, our menu changes daily, with a hot buffet bar, an extensive salad bar, a deli bar, and desserts (including soft serve and other ice cream options). Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free offerings are available at each meal. 

Please note any food allergies in your medical information form so that we can inform relevant staff.

Snacks and “fast food” items such as wraps, omelets, and breakfast sandwiches are also available at the snack bar in the Blake Student Center.

Every student will be assigned an advisor, who is also a member of the dorm staff. Your advisor will serve as your family’s primary contact person throughout your time in Summer Session.

Each advisor works closely with their group of advisees throughout the summer. They’ll help you settle in and assist with homework and any other issues you may have. You’ll receive your advisor's contact information at registration on the first day. 

Northfield Mount Hermon is located on a serene, wooded 1,320-acre campus in Massachusetts’ Connecticut River Valley. Summer Session students have access to all of NMH’s facilities, including:

• The Gilder Center, home to the math and science departments, which was built using local, low-carbon, high-efficiency materials and which allows students to examine energy and water usage. 

• Two full gymnasiums with badminton courts, three basketball courts, a 25-meter swimming pool, two volleyball courts, the newly renovated 6,000-square-foot Calagione Fitness Center, a new wrestling center, a dance studio, a track, nine fields (including two turf fields), 12 tennis courts, two baseball fields, one softball field, and a boathouse on the Connecticut River.

• The Blake Student Center, with a snack bar, the NMH School Store, and space to socialize, play pool or table tennis, or join in one of the many organized activities.

• Schauffler Library, a quiet area for study or reading, with more than 70,000 books, plus extensive online holdings, audio-visual equipment, and a computer lab. 

• The Rhodes Arts Center, with performance spaces, practice rooms, classrooms, and visual art studios, as well as a student cafe.

• Our Alumni Hall dining center, which serves a variety of hot and cold food, with a full deli bar, salad bar, dessert bar, fresh fruit station, and ice cream.

Clothing: You should plan to bring enough clothes for a minimum of six days. Laundry is collected weekly on Friday and returned the following Tuesday.

Clothes must be presentable, non-revealing, properly fitted, and in good repair. While evenings can be cool (60F/15C), days can become quite hot (90F/45C). Students are expected to dress appropriately for off-campus trips to the theater or worship services. See more in our suggested packing list.

Computers: All students must bring their own laptop, tablet, or Chromebook, as all courses (including math) regularly assign work that requires the use of a computer. Your computer should have Google Chrome installed as a web browser, as this works best with the NMH Google account. Many teachers assign both in-class work and homework that require writing and submission of work via the Google drive. NMH does not provide computers for students to use during class. While there are a limited number of computers for use in the library and computer labs, these are not available for students' in-class needs.

Other Equipment: Students in the Digital Photography class must bring their own digital SLR camera (not fully automatic; it must allow for manual focus). NMH does not provide cameras for student use.

Sports Equipment: Most sports do not have any required equipment, with these exceptions:

• Soccer: Cleats and shin guards are required. Soccer usually takes place on artificial turf.

• Tennis: A tennis racquet and tennis shoes with smooth, non-marking soles are required. NMH provides balls during official tennis practice. Students who plan to play during free time must provide their own tennis balls.

• Baseball/softball (optional): You are welcome to bring a glove for the faculty-student softball games, but it is not required for participation. 

Strictly Prohibited on the NMH Campus: Due to health and safety/fire regulations, the following items are not permitted: cloth wall, curtain, or ceiling hangings; matches, lighters, or fireworks; dry floral arrangements or evergreens; electric blankets; foam padding, including foam mattress pads; electrical items such as air conditioners, televisions, coffee or tea-makers, hot plates, popcorn poppers, toaster ovens, irons, etc; candles; incense burners; high-intensity lamps (especially halogen lamps), strings of decorative lights; pets of any kind; large furniture; upholstered, stuffed, or beanbag chairs; wicker furniture; weapons or knives (including Swiss Army knives); and plastic, straw, shag, or rubber-backed rugs.

At NMH, every student actively participates in the daily running of the school through a “workjob.” It’s one of our oldest traditions, dating back to our founding in 1879. You might be assigned to help prepare meals, keep classrooms clean, or work on our campus farm. 

Because Summer Session is only a few weeks long, you may only have a workjob for a few days, but it will be an important part of your experience here. Each workjob is vital — it’s your chance to serve our community and develop an understanding of the value of every person’s contributions.

The O’Connor Health and Wellness Center is in the middle of campus and is open 8 am to 8 pm every day, with emergency coverage overnight. The staff is trained to meet teens’ unique needs and offers a wide variety of medical and counseling services. 

If a student becomes ill outside of regular hours, the advisor and dorm head should be notified. School nurses are on duty during posted hours and on call at all other times; 24-hour emergency care is provided at the local hospital.

If a day student is sick, the parent/guardian must call the Summer Session Office at 413-498-3290 to report the absence. Do not email teachers or interns, as they may not check their email during class, and the Summer Session Office must account for any absences immediately.

All students are required to have health insurance that covers them while at the NMH Summer Session. (See complete details.)

Prior to a student's arrival, parents must complete medical information on NMH's online healthcare portal, including the student’s medical history and immunization records. All students are required to provide documentation of a doctor’s physical completed within 12 months of the Summer Session’s start date.

Parents must inform NMH Health Services about any medications taken by students. Prescription medications from home — including those that fall under the category of psychotropic (anti-anxiety, antidepressants, stimulants for ADD or ADHD, and some sleep aids) — must be shipped or hand-delivered by the parent/guardian to Health Services. Medications may not be given to the student to bring if not accompanied by a parent/guardian and may not be mailed to the student. Allergy medications and a schedule for dispensing them must be given to the NMH Health Center. Antibiotics, allergy and cold preparations, and nutritional supplements are dispensed as needed. All medications are held at the Health Center and dispensed to students. Students may not keep any prescription medications in their rooms.

Please email the health center staff at nurses@nmhschool.org with any medical or health-related questions.

Please see our COVID-19 Policies for full details.

Please email the health center staff at nurses@nmhschool.org with any medical or health-related questions.

Well-trained, uniformed campus safety officers are on duty, keeping residents safe and facilities secure at all times. Exterior dormitory doors are always locked, requiring those entering to have an ID card that is individually programmed to permit entrance into specified buildings. 

You will receive a room key and ID card at registration. Lost keys or cards must be reported to dorm staff immediately, and a replacement will be ordered, with a $40 charge for each key or card lost.

Safety officers and the health center staff are equipped and trained to deal with medical emergencies. All dorm heads and dorm 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.

Parents can deposit money with NMH for the student's personal spending account through our online payment portal. Those funds can be withdrawn from NMH's cashier. 

Students with ATM cards can access spending money by using the TD Bank ATM in the Blake Student Center. If a student has a TD Bank debit or ATM card, there are no fees for withdrawals at a TD Bank ATM. For cards other than TD Bank, there is a fee per transaction, and the student’s bank may also charge a fee. Those wishing to set up a TD Bank account should contact TD Bank directly (www.tdbank.com).

NMH spending accounts should be set up when you pay your tuition, by including an extra amount designated for the student’s account. (This can be done through our online payment portal by adding the dollar amount under “Student Spending Account.”)

The advantage of establishing an ATM account is that the on-campus ATM is available at any time, and students can also access funds while on off-campus trips. The NMH cashier’s office cannot process ATM deposits and withdrawals, and students can only access their NMH spending account during certain hours.

Funds deposited with NMH cannot be accessed through an ATM. Students cannot make withdrawals from their NMH spending account on the weekends. Students should not keep large amounts of cash on their person or in their room.

How much money your child brings is a matter of personal preference and will vary for every student. Students should only need money for items such as toiletries, snacks, spending money on trips, and cash for traveling to and from NMH (for spending at the airport, for example).

To check your account balance, contact NMH's business office: Joanne Graves at jgraves@nmhschool.org (or 413-498-3268) or Angie Fletcher at afletcher@nmhschool.org (or 413-498-3189).

You may also set up an account with My Kids Spending at www.mykidsspending.com. This will give you up-to-date information regarding your account, which will be updated nightly Monday through Friday. Students will only need accounts if they want to download and use the free My Kids Spending app, from Google Play (Android) or iTunes (Apple). 

Parents can request statements on-demand or by pre-selecting a low-balance threshold at which a statement will be automatically emailed. To request a statement, once logged into MyKidsSpending.com, select "Statements," then check "Request copy of statement." Statements are typically sent as an automated process overnight, so please allow up to 24 hours for your request to be processed.

To have statements sent whenever the account balance drops below a specific point, check "Enable Statement Delivery" and enter the desired threshold in the box.

To send a package to a student, use the following format:

(Name of Child)
(DORMITORY)*

Northfield Mount Hermon Summer Session
One Lamplighter Way,
Mount Hermon, MA 01354
USA

(*Students will receive dormitory assignments when they arrive for registration.)

Students may send outgoing mail from the center of campus, adjoining Blake Student Center.
 

Contacting your student:
If you cannot reach your student by phone, text, or email, you should contact the advisor or, if the advisor is unavailable, the dorm head. Their email addresses will be provided at the start of Summer Session.

Contacting the Summer Session office:
Please call the office at 413-498-3290 during office hours (Monday-Friday, 8 am-5 pm; Saturday, 8 am-12:30 pm). Outside of office hours, please leave a voicemail or, if it is an urgent matter, call the Duty Dean at 413-498-3326.

The office email is summer_session@nmhschool.org.

For medical/health related questions, please email the Health Center staff at nurses@nmhschool.org.