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St. John’s College Summer Academy

St. John’s Summer Academy is a college summer program for high school students (ages 15 to 18), modeled after St. John’s discussion-based, interdisciplinary method of teaching great books. A genuine introduction to college life, Summer Academy helps students hone their reading, critical thinking, and discussion skills in classes led by St. John’s faculty. This summer, we are offering week-long programs on our campuses in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and online programs from your own home. Summer Academy is perfect for high school students who want to immerse themselves in books, ideas, and a community that loves learning as much as you do. And it is fun!

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Apply to Summer Academy 2025 General Information About Camp

Summer Academy Sessions 2025

Sessions are hosted on both St. John’s campus locations, in Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM, and online. Scroll through the different summer academy sessions happening next June and July, 2025.

Santa Fe

Technology and Transcendence

Sunday, July 6 – Friday, July 11, 2025: Scientific Ambition and the Human Condition- Should there be limits to the pursuit of technology? In the Greek myth, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to human beings. In Aeschylus’ classic, it is a blessing and a curse for us, and Prometheus is punished for his transgression. This myth is archetypal for the deepest questions that surround our ambivalent experience of technology. Sample authors and works include Aeschylus, "Prometheus Bound," Shelley, "Frankenstein," Hans Jonas, Heidegger, Erwin Straus; Nollet, Galvani, Volta. Film: "Modern Times," "Le Jetée," "Blade Runner."

American Experiment

Sunday, July 13 – Friday, July 18, 2025: In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln posed a question: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” What kind of test, what kind of experiment, does American democracy represent? Sample readings include Plutarch’s Lives, Aristotle’s "Politics," Locke’s "Second Treatise of Government," Tocqueville’s "Democracy in America," the US Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, The Federalist Papers, and speeches by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.

Shakespearean Drama and Poetry

Sunday, July 20 – Friday, July 25, 2025: An exploration of the human soul and its condition through readings in tragedy, comedy, and the short poem. The action of both Oedipus Rex and Macbeth is propelled by prophecies, which Oedipus attempts to avoid and Macbeth attempts to fulfill, both becoming kings in the process, each with problems at home, the former caught up in a fateful situation from which there is no good way out, the latter in a situation seemingly brought about by a series of free and culpable choices. Authors and Works: Shakespeare: "Macbeth," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," sonnets, Sophocles, Aristophanes "The Birds," and Sappho’s poems.

Annapolis

A Week with Pascal

Sunday, June 22 – Friday, June 27, 2025: Pascal’s wager, Pascal’s principle, Pascal’s triangle… these are just a few of the fundamental concepts in philosophy, science, and mathematics that owe their discovery to Blaise Pascal. A true exemplar of intellectual curiosity, Pascal sought truth wherever it could be found, from moments of deep self-reflection to long hours in the laboratory. Sample readings include "The Pensées," "Conics," and Pascal’s triangle.

Stoics

Sunday, June 29 – Friday, July 4, 2025: It is a fact of human life that we do not always get to choose what befalls us. The whims of fortune are blind to our desires and intentions, and the hand we are dealt is often a far cry from the one we might have wanted. Confronting this reality could inspire helplessness and despair; but for the stoic philosopher, that confrontation marks the starting point of human happiness and empowerment. We may not be masters of fate, but perhaps we can be masters of ourselves. Sample readings will include Marcus Aurelius’s "Meditations," Epictetus’ "Handbook," and selections from Cicero.

Nature and Law

Sunday, July 6 – Friday, July 11, 2025: From ancient times to the modern era, the movements of the stars and planets have fascinated human beings. Their cyclical regularity inspired the astronomers Ptolemy and Copernicus to seek out the laws that govern their motions, and to wonder about the origins of those laws: are they divine? Mathematical? Natural? Eternal? Do the same laws somehow govern us? Sample readings will be from authors such as Hobbes, Galileo, and 2nd century Greek mathematician Claudius Ptolemy.

Summer Academy Weekends

Thinking about enrolling in two or three consecutive sessions of Summer Academy? Students may spend the weekend on either campus in between two consecutive Summer Academy weeks. Most students spend this time preparing for the upcoming week of classes and enjoying the down time in between sessions. More details regarding the weekend experience can be found within the student registration forms for Summer Academy.

Online Sessions 2025

Sessions will be hosted in June, 2025. Online sessions will cover some of the following books and selections:

  • Homer’s, The Odyssey
  • Shakespearean plays: Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra
  • Selections by James Baldwin
  • Charles Darwin’s “The Voyage of the Beagle”

What is the Great Books Reading Program?

We take great pride in our great books curriculum, which was adopted in 1937. The tradition of all students reading fundamental texts of Western civilization is the foundation of our education. Our Great Books Reading List includes classic works by Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Cervantes and more.

Our goal with the Summer Academy is to introduce high school students to the world of critical thinking and discussion while reading great books in subjects like philosophy, literature, psychology, history, religion, economics, science, astronomy, language, and more.

 

Admissions

Contact Summer Academy at summer.academy(at)sjc.edu

Nathaniel (SA16)

“My classroom experience at the Summer Academy was amazing! I had fun tackling big ideas together with diverse and intelligent people in an exciting way I haven’t before. I felt the discussions expanded my mind and the way I think.”
Summer Classics Seminar
Summer Classics for Adults

Spend a week of your summer among fellow lovers of intellectual inquiry examining great works, either in Santa Fe or online! Our seminar offerings are lively, in-depth, and highly participatory conversations on enduring works that span fiction and nonfiction, math and science, poetry and philosophy, as well as visual, cinematic, and performing arts.

More about SUMMER CLASSICS