Archive for the 'CEP' Category

Hello CEP 4 families!

Our 12 CEP students, Julia, and Nate have had a sunny and beautiful week to begin the College Essay Program in Williamstown!  Students arrived on campus on Thursday, settled into their dormitory as a group, and got right to work on Friday with their first of five straight days of class devoted to getting their essay writing process off on the right foot and into the drafting process.  Today (Wednesday), they’ll take a break from class to spend a day outdoors hiking up scenic Mount Greylock in Williamstown to clear their minds and enjoy the company of their fellow CEP students.  They return to the classroom on Thursday and Friday to edit and finalize their essays before coming home on Saturday.

Students have several solid drafts completed so far, says Julia, and the group is focused in the classroom and working hard!   In the afternoons, they’ve kept busy with a variety of different activities, including a bike/hike combo to Hopkins Forest and then a walk around the figure eight loop, a trip to central Berkshire County to ride bikes on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, a hike up the Cascades Trail to a waterfall, and a hike on the Taconic Crest Trail.  They also did a Williams College campus tour on Tuesday and headed to a local swimming hole afterwards to cool off!  Julia says the group is getting along well – they love playing cards together and working through riddles together at meals!  The photo below is from their hike along the Taconic Crest Trail.

Check back at the end of the program to see photos from this session on our SmugMug photo website!

-Liz

Hello from Williamstown, MA!

Our crew of rising seniors has been hard at work since their first day of class on Monday morning.  Julia, Nate and their teacher, Ben, report that the first week has gone really well in the classroom.

They began the week in the classroom with shorter prompts, exercises and readings to get the essay writing process started and narrow down their ideas to one great essay topic.  On Wednesday, they pulled out laptops for the first time and started drafting their essay, working through several drafts through Friday and working one-on-one with their Ben, Julia, and Nate and helping each other peer edit.  Julia says, “It’s been a great week!  Everyone is moving in the right direction.”  They’ll spend Saturday on a hike up Mt. Greylock and then return to the classroom on Sunday and Monday for two final days of writing and wrap up.

In the afternoons, they’ve been staying well hydrated in the midst of the heat wave and keeping busy with bike rides and hikes, with most afternoons concluding by jumping in a swimming hole to cool off!  A few highlights from the week were riding on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail (picture below!), playing Apples to Apples in their dorm, and a “ferocious game” of Team Charades.   With the heat wave peaking on Thursday, they spent the afternoon catching a matinee of Harry Potter and spending a few hours in the cool air conditioned movie theater before heading back outside!

They’ll fill you in on the rest of the details (and maybe even show you their essay!) when they come home on Tuesday!

-Liz

Hello CEP 2 families!

Julia and Nate report that the group is off to a great start with five days of class under their belt and plenty of awesome outdoor activities from the past week to set them up for their day off from class and their hike of Mt. Greylock today!

Class began with a few days of setting the scene for their essay writing process – reading great essays and working on shorter prompts to help narrow down a topic.  Then the group jumped into their independent writing and individual conferences with their teacher as they get down to business and begin the drafting process.  Julia reports that all students are doing a great job with the writing and made great progress before breaking for the day today.  They’ll return for two days of class on Thursday and Friday before heading home on Saturday morning.

In the afternoons, the group has biked, hiked and explored several local swimming holes.  The picture below of the group (taken by Julia) is of the entire group on a beautiful hiking trail in Williamstown, with the group paused at the scenic vista overlooking the Berkshires from the Taconic Crest.  The group has biked on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, hiked the 4.2 mile Hopkins Forest figure 8 loop, swam at several different swimming holes and combined swimming with hiking when they did the popular “Cascades Hike” which ends at a waterfall.  Nate said the whole group stood under the waterfall at the end of the hike – perfect for a hot day!

Check back at the program’s conclusion for photos from the week posted on our SmugMug site!

-Liz

Hello!

CEP 1B and their leaders Erin and Andrew are having a great week in Williamstown!  Class with their teacher, Ben Weaver, has been really productive so far and everyone seems to be making lots of progress on their essays and enjoying tackling the challenge as a group.   After five days of hard work in the class the group is breaking to spend a day hiking Mt. Greylock on Saturday before returning for two more days of wrapping up their essays.

The group has enjoyed living on the Williams campus together – sharing their dormitory, preparing delicious lunches (pesto pasta with red peppers, caramelized onions, & broccoli was a highlight!), eating breakfast and dinner in a college dining hall, and going to class in a beautiful new building on campus.  In the afternoons they’ve gotten outside and done some fun hikes and bike rides around Williamstown, including a nice 10 mile bike ride around a popular loop in town.  The students will give you the full scoop and show you their essays when they get home on Tuesday!

-Liz

Hello CEP 1A families!

Julia, Nate and CEP 1A have had a great week in Williamstown!  The group has made lots of progress in the classroom and have had tons of fun outside!

In the classroom, they class spent the first few days working on different prompts designed to get them to think about their life experiences and finding a moment they could focus on for an essay topic.  By Wednesday, students were diving into rough drafts and they’ve continued to write and edit into the weekend.   Both leaders are impressed by the progress they have made with five days of class behind them!  They will break today (Saturday) for a full day of hiking Mt. Greylock, the tallest mountain in Massachusetts, and then return to the classroom on Sunday and Monday to finish up.   Julia mentioned that they really love their teacher, Pete Golding, and several students have been giving him “cheers!” at their nightly dessert circles for running such a great class during the day.

In the afternoons, the group has been getting outside and getting their fill of the great hikes and bike rides around Williamstown.   In the last week, they’ve hiked through Hopkins Forest, swam at a few local swimming holes, visited the Williams College Museum of Art, done a campus tour of Williams College, and did a 6 mile hike on the Taconic Crest Trail.  They are looking forward to hiking Mt. Greylock on Saturday!

Your student will give you a full recap when they finish up on Tuesday!

-Liz