The summer program is kicked off with all students and staff embarking on an excursion to either Boston, Washington, D.C., or whitewater rafting in Maine. Each trip will include college tours and cultural events intended to broaden students' horizons. This excursion is a fun way to make new friends at Upward Bound!

All of our students will volunteer approximately 75 hours each summer. This community service will be based on your career goals, and can help students figure out the path that is right for them! That being said, not all the job sites are serious business - there are fun options like working on the Upward Bound summer video! No matter what job site they have, our students always represent themselves and the program well, and their supervisors are always excited to have Upward Bound students volunteer with them. 

We offer a variety of preview and enrichment courses during the summer program. All students will be assigned to and required to attend four classes and one study hall daily. Classes meet every weekday morning for an hour. Coursework is meant to prepare students for the following academic year, raise their SAT scores, and make them an overall stronger student. Classes are taught by teachers from the area, and our teachers love working with dedicated students like ours!

Electives are high-interest courses that are offered on Fridays in place of normal academic classes. We offer courses in language, career exploration, college preparation, the arts, physical fitness, recreation, and more! The elective courses offered change each year depending on faculty availability and student interest. These electives are meant to be fun, social, and to supplement the academic experience of the Upward Bound summer!

Sophomore Explorations, Junior College Quest, and Senior Seminar are designed in tandem to adequately prepare students for college and their future and provide a roadmap to follow for the upcoming school year. Sophomores begin very broadly: taking personality tests, exploring potential careers and the classes they should take in high school, and thinking very generally about their future goals. Juniors begin focusing on careers, crafting a college list, and defining their educational goals. Seniors get right to work gearing up for the upcoming fall when they will apply to colleges. They complete the Common Application and financial aid forms, identify scholarships, write college application essays, finalize their college list, and think critically about their future goals.

Students will learn to enhance vocabulary, math reasoning, writing, and test-taking skills necessary for the SAT test. Students will take practice exams during the summer to familiarize themselves with the format and time limitations of the test. Students are expected to take the SAT in the spring of junior year and fall of senior year. The weekend prior to each suggested SAT testing date, students will be expected to attend the Upward Bound SAT Prep Refreshers.

The summer residential staff, known as Tutor Counselors (TCs) are current college students from first-generation, low-income backgrounds. They live in the dorm with students and provide mentorship through their interactions with students. The TCs share their experiences applying to and attending college and how it feels to be a first-generation/low-income student on a college campus. They provide a huge amount of support for our students and these relationships can last well beyond the end of the summer program. 

Each summer we take a trip at the beginning of the program to bond. During most summers we plan additional trips such as Salem, Massachusetts, hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and swimming at Lake Willoughby in East Burke! We also travel for college tours around Vermont and surrounding areas.