In the summer of 2021, Lower School Expedition will be entering its fourth year!

Each week, a team of Nueva educators will learn alongside our campers as we embark on thematic, interdisciplinary study designed to be immersive and fun while providing skills that campers can add to their life-long learning toolbox.

The program consists of five unique weeks of content, rooted in Literature Club, Community Building, Dance and Movement, Ecology, Scientific Deep Dives, Design Thinking, and Mathematical Exploration.

In 2021, campers in Lower School Expedition will participate in four individual hour-long classes each day at the following times: 

• 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
• 9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
• 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 
• 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. PE (All interested 1–4 Grade Campers) 

All campers will rotate through classes in the following content areas:

• Humanities 
• Theater/Movement
• STEM Sessions
• Physical Education Class

If you have questions, please email our team at summer@nuevaschool.org.

Week 1: June 28–July 2

Culture and Geography

Join us for a virtual, interdisciplinary journey around the world where students will explore the physical and human geography of various regions. They will study the history of different regions and explore the political, economic, and cultural characteristics of our world. Together, we will investigate maps, unique locations, and communities to help us deepen our understanding of what it means to be human.

Week 2: July 5–9

Fact vs. Fiction

Calling all fact finders and myth busters: What are the tools that help us distinguish what is real from what is fiction? Join us as we explore the art of investigative research, science, and collaborative learning. With so much information coming our way each moment of the day, now is the time to develop our critical thinking lens and media literacy skills.

Week 3: July 12–16

A Beloved Community

Imagine a world where all people are valued, respected, and treated with dignity. Poverty, racism, and militarism are barriers to our living in the Beloved Community. The Beloved Community is not a utopia; it’s a society based upon justice and love, that is realistic and achievable. What actions can we take to continue to strengthen our community and our connections with others? Over the course of the week, campers will discover the meaning of community, togetherness, and perseverance through shared readings, projects, conversations, and explorations. 

Week 4: July 19–23

Childhood and Identity

Do you ever wonder what your great-great-grandparents would do or say if they were across the table from you? Or what games they would  want to play? Which stories might they share about their childhoods? 

 Join us as we explore the magic, creativity, and curiosity of childhood­–our own and those of our ancestors. Through games, literature, and historical explorations, we will work to find the connections between our shared and unique childhood stories.

Week 5: July 26–30

Life Journals

Have you ever wondered about what a documentary of your life might be? Join us as we build a toolbox to document our daily tasks, wonders, and experiences. Journaling dreams. Breakfast highlights. Plant growth. New words. Our journals will inspire new questions, stories, and ways to move our bodies and minds and hopefully discover e new traditions and ways of navigating the world.

Our Middle School Expedition program is designed to be fun, rigorous and engaging, showcasing the best of Nueva's "learn by doing" philosophy. Each offering aims to provide campers unique opportunities to explore academic passions in greater depth while working with Nueva teachers, students, and visiting college professors. Campers will experience Nueva's constructivist, project- and inquiry-based learning environment, and cultivate new skills and interests.

This summer all of our programs will be hosted online, via password-protected Zoom sessions.

Our morning classes will be meet 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. 

All afternoon classes will meet at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

There will be some level of asynchronous work for campers to work on each day between classes, however, there is rarely required homework for Nueva Summer classes.

Please partner with your child to choose the classes that they would most enjoy.

All campers will have the option to participate in 30-minute, teacher-led recess and PE classes throughout the day at: 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m.

If you have questions, please email our team at summer@nuevaschool.org.

In this third year of Upper School Expedition, we are thrilled to offer two weeks of our Parliamentary and Public Forum Debate Camps. The course will be held July 12–23.

Participants can join either offering for one or two weeks. Our Upper School Expedition classes provide students entering grades 8–12 with an opportunity to take an immersive deep-dive inspired by Nueva’s mission to instill life-long learning skills in our all of our learners and community members.

July 12–23

Upper School Parliamentary and Public Forum Debate Camps

Sam Timinsky & Les Philips

What does our program offer? 

Our Upper School Parliamentary Debate Camp is designed for high school students (rising ninth through twelfth grade) who are interested in competitive parliamentary debate. We welcome beginners — we delight in introducing debate to new students, and we give them our very best attention. We also welcome strong, experienced students who are ready to extend themselves and move to the next level, guided by our deeply experienced coaching staff.

Nueva has developed a sophisticated remote learning system currently being used to support daily instruction of our 940 PreK–12 students. Debate staff and coaches have been teaching daily classes remotely, including judging online parliamentary debate rounds. And we are supported by Nueva’s superb seven-person Tech Office, which has supported one of the earliest one-to-one laptop technology programs in the country (now in our second decade).

We’ll provide rigorous training in debate research, the use of philosophical arguments in debate, debate theory, case writing, strategic thinking, and speaking tailored to both professional and lay judges. Newer debaters will spend more time developing foundational skills. This track involves a series of workshops, lectures, and practice sessions to drill specific skills, such as locating evidence and ad-libbing refutation. More advanced debaters will spend more time in sophisticated reading groups, writing sessions, and mini-debates. They will also take part in mini-topic lectures and practice debates that emphasize strategy development.

Ideally, students will attend for the full two weeks. However, the course is divided into two week-long blocks (five days of instruction), and students are welcome to sign up for either or both weeks.

Here is the schedule for Upper School Expedition:

·      All morning sessions will meet via Zoom for hour-long classes at 9 and 11.

·      All afternoon session will meet via Zoom for hour-long classes at 1 and 3.

·      In addition to our previously scheduled classes, we will host a half-hour PE class each day at 12:30.

The hour-long breaks in our morning and afternoon classes will be programmed with asynchronous content and break times.

If you have questions, please email our team at summer@nuevaschool.org.