Bay Area high school students spent much of their summer enhancing their academic careers at the upper school’s Summer Institute. Open to students enrolled in any accredited high school, the courses – taught by caring, dedicated and highly qualified teachers – enabled students to earn credit or bolster their knowledge of a subject of interest.

Courses at this year’s upper school Summer Institute were divided into two categories. For-credit classes gave students the chance to earn academic credit in a variety of subjects, including algebra, geometry, economics and programming. Small class sizes helped to ensure each student received high-quality instruction. Many of the teachers at the Summer Institute teach at Harker year-round.

Also available was a range of enrichment courses, giving students the opportunity to explore their interests or boost their knowledge in various subject areas. Enrichment courses included Pre-Calculus Boost, Creative Writers Workshop, Driver’s Education and Climate Change.

All upper school Summer Institute courses were held at Harker’s upper school campus, which offers quality facilities and a top-notch learning environment.

“I enjoyed how both my teachers and my classmates were all focused solely on the classwork that was set for each day,” said Gene Wang, a Harker sophomore who took AP Chemistry and Advanced Programming. “There were very few distractions and very little wasted class time, which led to a lot getting accomplished each day.”

“I enjoyed the labs because they were a lot of fun and reinforced the concepts we learned during the lecture,” said Christopher Leafstrand, grade 10, who also attended AP Chemistry.

Wang said he would recommend the classes to any student who hopes to get ahead. “Although these two courses are intense, there is truly a lot of material that is covered and each student that completes this course will definitely learn a lot.”