Summer Programs

Every summer Exeter welcomes to campus some 700 students for five weeks of academic study, athletics, and exploration that carry participants far beyond the classrooms and the playing fields. Typically, students come from more than 40 states, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and several dozen foreign nations. They are public school students and private school students. All come to Exeter with that particular mix of intellectual curiosity and adventurous spirit that holds the promise of glimpsing new horizons and making new discoveries.

This one-week conference for secondary teachers features speakers from the U.S. and the U.K. The conference can count towards graduate credit or professional development.

The Exeter Mathematics Institute (EMI) consists of one-week workshops offered during the summer at no cost to selected urban school districts.

The Exeter Astronomy Conference is a weeklong meeting of secondary school astronomy educators of all levels designed to allow teachers from around the United States to share their experiences as astronomy educators; generate long-term collaborations; and learn about changes to the science of astronomy and to astronomy education.

The Exeter Humanities Institute is a five-day working conference for secondary school English and History teachers. It is designed to explore the use of student-centered, discussion-based education that is loosely described as the "Harkness method" of teaching.

This one-week course is designed for teachers looking for new ways to teach Shakespeare. Attendees live and learn with teachers from diverse backgrounds: public schools, independent schools, veterans and newcomers. The week features total immersion in a chosen play of Shakespeare with others who love and appreciate his work.

The Writers Workshop at Phillips Exeter Academy offers individuals of all academic disciplines an opportunity to write and revise their own narratives, poems, essays, and stories using the tools and techniques routinely employed by published writers and seasoned writing teachers alike. Participants will come away from this five-day working program armed with a more refined and professional approach to teaching writing in the classroom, and a portfolio of new work for continued development.   

Exeter students and others may participate in Exeter's summer programs abroad. Each study tour combines a linguistic immersion through an academic and cultural program with activities geared to adolescents.

In the summer of 2009, come home to Exeter to return to the Harkness table. Open to Exeter graduates and adult friends of the Academy. Take your place in seminar discussion. Be a student again, reading, writing and engaging in intellectual conversation.