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!
Apply to the Summer Scholars Program
June 22 - July 5, 2025
Important Information about Summer Scholars
What Courses are available?
Course I: American Revolutions (The Revolutionary War, Civil War, and Civil Rights Movement)
Primary Faculty:
- Dr. Michael Lee, Grace F. Kea chair of History, Professor of American History
- Overview: In this course, students will grapple with the history of America as the continuing struggle to complete the “unfinished” work of the American Revolution. As part of this course, students will visit Philadelphia's Independence Hall, Valley Forge National Park, and the Gettysburg Battlefield and Cemetery.
Course II: Divorcing the Devil - The Moral Vision of C.S. Lewis
Primary Faculty:
- Dr. Steven Boyer, Professor of Theology
Overview: This course explores two of C. S. Lewis’ most memorable writings, The Great Divorce and The Screwtape Letters, and how they build upon Homer’s Odyssey, Vergil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Comedy, and Milton’s Paradise Lost in order to explore perennial moral and theological questions.
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?
New for Summer 2025! Both sessions of the Summer Scholars Program will run concurrently from Sunday, June 22 - Saturday, July 5. Students will participate in either session of Summer Scholars Program (American Revolutions or Divorcing the Devil) 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.”