The Summer Scholars Program (SSP) is a wonderful opportunity to sample a special kind of education built around great questions, great books, and great conversations within a deeply formative community.
It allows high school students the chance to earn 3 transferable college credits while they taste what an undergraduate Templeton education is like by placing them in seminars led by Templeton professors and assisted by Templeton upperclassmen.
Summer Scholars courses are designed to bring together intelligent, gifted young men and women from around the country who want to learn together, play together, and think together about big ideas and big questions, all within the context of our beautiful natural campus adjacent to one of America's most historically and culturally important cities—Philadelphia!
Register Your Interest
in Summer Scholars 2026!
Important Information about Summer Scholars
What Courses are available?
We will announce our 2026 courses soon! Visit this page for updates, or register your interest here. Previous courses include:
- Divorcing the Devil: The Moral Theology of C.S. Lewis
- American Revolutions: The Unfinished Project
- Confronting Dragons: How Goodness Prevails in The Lord of the Rings
- Coding with the Ancients
- Socrates on Trial: Examining the Examined Life
What is the Summer Scholars Program?
A college-accredited, residential honors program for High School Students entering their junior or senior years
For fourteen days students will live in residence on Eastern University’s campus with a select group of peers, engaged in rigorous, college-level academics taught by Templeton’s own doctorate-certified professors. Students will enjoy one-to-one writing tutorials, guest speakers, field trips to Philadelphia and the surrounding area, cultural events, and all this alongside a team of current Templeton students serving as their guides and mentors. Courses also include daily times of devotion and prayer, Sabbath rest, and visits to Eastern’s world class planetarium and observatory. Students will be awarded 3 college credits upon completion of this program (transferable to other colleges and universities).
When does the Summer Scholars Program run?
Both sessions of the Summer Scholars Program will run concurrently. Dates for 2026 will be announced soon. Students will participate in either session of Summer Scholars Program and occasionally join with students from the other session for special joint seminars and field trips that will enrich the overall topic of each session!
Where is the Summer Scholars Program held?
Eastern University (St. Davids Campus)
Why apply for the Summer Scholars Program?
- Earn 3 college credits (transferable).
- Enhance your academic resume.
- Sharpen skills of thinking, analyzing, conversing, and writing with the Templeton Honors College’s faculty.
- Receive one-to-one college-level academic tutorials.
- Take a cultural trip to Philadelphia and the surrounding area.
- Experience college life while living in residential halls on Eastern University’s main campus.
- Make friendships to last a lifetime. You could even meet your future roommate!
Learn more
Explore more information about the Summer Scholars Program
“I think the Summer Scholars Program was when I really fell in love with the Templeton Honors College. The first summer I went, I was nervous; but it was wonderful. I made some wonderful friends, I talked about books that I absolutely love, and I got to have conversations with professors that challenged me. So I went back the next year, and I think that, by that point, it would have been hard to convince me to go to college anywhere else. Those opportunities allowed me to experience first-hand what going to Templeton would be like.”