Penn Summer Writing Academy

Posted by on May 16, 2003

PENN SUMMER WRITING ACADEMY?NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS for SUMMER 2003

Do you know high school students who are ready to be challenged to grow as budding scholars, participate in civic engagement, and contribute to building communities both on and beyond campus? What about students who are interested in?or would benefit from?learning the skills of college-level writing; the strategies of scholarly research (interviewing, field observation, and library research); as well as analysis of texts and data? The Penn Summer Writing Academy (PSWA) combines the best of these endeavors, and is pleased to invite applications for Summer 2003.

Who: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors who want to gain the essential skills of college-level writing.

What: This six-week, full-time, non-credit program develops academic writing and researching skills expressly by inviting students to participate in both academic and community-based learning.

When: June 28-August 9, 2003

This program combines the best of innovative classroom teaching with the opportunity to apply newly acquired skills to actual settings in Philadelphia. PSWA introduces students to a variety of writing strategies as well as to a vibrant range of academic fields?from history to English literature, to anthropology and folklore, to engineering, to urban studies and economics. Emphasizing writing at every turn, this program builds up a foundation for college-level research. What distinguishes this program is the opportunity to study with leading experts in a range of fields; to work one-on-one with advanced writers; and to collaborate on ground-breaking community projects.

The program is divided into four components, each of which differently introduces and reinforces the relationships between research, analysis, service learning, and writing. The first component, ?Living Analysis,? works with scholarly research and writing techniques; the second component, ?Community Action,? explores community-based research and writing, and the third, ?Building Community,? provides an avenue for students to do hands-on community service and research as primary material for their writing, and for reflecting on action that makes a difference. The fourth component is an ongoing writing laboratory for individualized attention and instruction. As an added bonus, students participate in a Penn Precollege Writing Workshops:

*Writing a Winning College Admission Essay;
*Making the Transition from High School to College Writing;
*My Teacher Hated My Essay (working with teacher feedback); and
*Breaking Through Writer?s Block.

The Penn Summer Writing Program is coordinated and co-taught by Nancy Watterson and Lisa Ratmansky, award-winning teachers who bring years of experience teaching writers from high school to graduate school. For more information or to apply to the program, please visit us at http://www.upenn.edu/summer, or call 215-746-6900.