Experience Christendom Summer Program

A life-changing adventure awaits you.

Testimonies from past program participants

The Program

This program is unlike any other college summer program. This program is going to be one of the best, if not THE BEST, experiences of your life, hands down. Other programs promise deep intellectual experiences, or fun and exciting activities. Christendom's Experience Christendom Summer Program is so much more, you just have to experience it for yourself to truly understand!

Each year, through its “Experience Christendom” Summer Program (ECSP), Christendom College welcomes over 160 rising high school juniors and seniors to its campus to experience what life would be like as a Christendom student.

And every year, students are deeply affected by what they experience during their week-long program. Participants are given the rare opportunity to expand their intellectual horizons, as well as to experience a truly Catholic culture, where Catholicism is the “air that they breathe.” If you are having doubts, read the testimonies from real-life high school students who were blown away by what they experienced!

Students spend their mornings taking a variety of liberal arts classes (Philosophy, English, History, and Theology), then, after Mass and lunch, students spend their afternoons and evenings enjoying a number of recreational and social events. Activities generally include a canoe trip down the Shenandoah River, a hike and cookout on Skyline Drive, swing and contra dancing, making smores over a bonfire, bowling, participating in a talent show, eating a steak dinner at the Admissions Director’s house, and attending an Irish barn dance at College President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell’s house. These activities are absolutely amazing and show the participants that you can still have good old fashioned fun in a safe, moral, and Catholic environment!

One of the highlights of the program is the opportunity the students have to meet other young Catholics like themselves who are trying to live good, Catholic, well-balanced lives. Through this program, they make friends for life, and learn more about all that Christendom has to offer. In fact, students continually say that they feel closer to their new friends whom they only knew for a week, than with their life-long friends from back home. Why? Find out for yourself by attending one of these programs next summer. There is no real way to explain it - you just need to experience it.

The Counselors

While on campus, the summer program participants will be led by 8 current Christendom College students, called Counselors. Many of the counselors have themselves participated in the summer program while in high school and are eager to show others how much Christendom has to offer. Admissions Counselor Katie Gutschke is responsible for organizing the program while Admissions Director Tom McFadden directs all four of these exciting programs. Meet the Counselors and read their bios!

counselors
(l to r) Klarissa Blank, Matthew Speer, Rebecca Ellefson, Mike Bobrowski, Catherine Schneider, Peter Foeckler, Rebecca Deucher, and head counselor, Nicholas Blank.

The Courses

All courses are 50 mins long and are taught by full-time faculty of Christendom College.

Scripture Study/Theology
Dr. Eric Jenislawski (Session 1) or President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell (Sessions 2, 3, and 4) leads the students in a thorough study of one of the four Gospels, giving great insights into deep theological questions.
Philosophy
Taught by Dr. John Cuddeback, this class will try and answer some of life’s greatest questions. What is happiness? Friendship? Why study philosophy and what effect can it have on our lives?
The Moral Imagination in Literature
Taught by either Professor Sharon Hickson (Session 1), Dr. Thomas Stanford (Session 2), or Dr. Patrick Keats (Sessions 3 and 4), this course will focus on the theme of men and women faced with the need to make moral choices, often in difficult and agonizing situations. The students will read and discuss a series of short poems and stories which dramatize this theme in various contexts and settings: ancient and modern; political and social; scientific and religious.
The West and Christianity
History professor Dr. Brendan McGuire will provide students with an introduction to the glorious achievements of the West, and to the role of Christianity therein. From the Greeks and Romans, who laid the foundations for Christian culture, to the Franks, Byzantines, and Crusaders who defended it, students will come to understand the triumphs of their cultural and religious forbearers, while deepening their own Christian identity. A Catholic has reason as well as faith. How can these be reconciled? How can they work together to defend what we believe against tough objections? Learn how serious theologians accomplish these tasks.

Activities

Not only will students enjoy the pastoral tranquility of the Christendom campus, they will also paddle down the glorious Shenandoah and explore beautiful Blue Ridge mountain trails. There also will be time for pick-up volleyball and basketball games, as well as other such sporting activities! Swing Dancing, Contra-Dancing, Talent Shows, Dinner at faculty houses, as well, as sing-a-longs will make it a truly wonderful time. Based on surveys, all the participants from recent summer programs rated their satisfaction with their summer program experience as either a 5 out of 5 or a 4 out of 5.

Dates

Four one-week sessions will be held in the summer of 2012, with approximately 40 students in

each of the sessions. (All sessions are full as of May 11, 2012 - 10:00am)

Session 1: June 16-23 (Saturday to Saturday) Tentative Schedule
- No more spots open to women; No more spots open to men
Session 2: June 24-July 1 (Sunday to Sunday) Tentative Schedule
- No more spots open to women; No more spots for men
Session 3: July 7-14 (Saturday to Saturday) Tentative Schedule
- No more spots open to women; No more spots open to men
Session 4: July 15-22 (Sunday to Sunday) Tentative Schedule
- No more spots open to women; No more spots open to men

If you would like to be put on a waiting list for any of the above sections that are full, please call the Admissions Office 800-877-5456.

Expenses

The all inclusive fee of $400 includes tuition, room and board, books and activity fees. Financial assistance is available to anyone who requests it. Please request financial assistance prior to registering by calling the Admissions Office at 800-877-5456.

Forms to fill out and return to the Admissions Office

All of these forms (with the exception of the "Items to Bring form") need to be filled out and returned to the Admissions Office AT LEAST 2 WEEKS PRIOR to the program start date:

Rules and Regulations Form / Arrival Form / Health Form / Items to Bring / Dress Code

Location

Christendom College is located outside the town of Front Royal in the beautiful and historically rich Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It is the site of the north entrance to the famed Skyline Drive—a spectacular scenic trip through the Blue Ridge Mountains—and lies only 65 miles west of Washington, DC.

Students can fly in to Dulles Airport (IAD) and the College will pick them up. Additionally, students may fly in to Reagan National in DC, but they would then have to take the metro to the Vienna Metro Station (Orange Line) where the College would pick them up.

Group Testimony from the 2nd Session 2010

Total Length: 19 min. 30 sec.

Testimonies from past program participants