Photo Credit: Sabiha Viswanathan

Compass teacher Ana Ventura leads her 6th-period class.

M-A’s two summer bridge programs, Compass and the Honors Institute, work to give incoming freshmen both academic support and more comfort with the school in preparation for the upcoming school year.

Compass serves anywhere from 80 to 100 students, depending on enrollment, and provides a general brush-up on basic math and English skills for 9th grade and community-building activities. The Honors Institute self-selects about 25 students per class, creating a more intimate and academically rigorous environment.

These Honors Institute students, deemed “superstars” in middle school, receive assistance adapting to the new environment in preparation for honor classes in the fall. They participate in a four-week AS English I prep course, in which they read summer reading books, focus on maturing their writing, and then go on to take additional math and biology prep courses.

For English teacher Lisa Otsuka the purpose of the Honors Institute is “[to help] students coming in, because we were noticing that students who were coming from certain feeder schools were being recommended for harder classes and not staying in them.” She thinks that it is extremely important that the Institute helps “students who have the ability and the desire to take high-level classes [succeed]” and “increase the diversity of our AP classes.”

Assistant Vice Principal Karl Losekoot says both programs help students “make connections.” By getting to know teachers, the school, and their peers before the school year begins, these students feel confident starting at M-A.

“There are people from my very first summer with Compass who will stop by my room to say, ‘Hi,’ even though they only had me as their teacher for a few short weeks, which I think is cool,” says English teacher Ana Ventura. “It’s very successful in breeding new friendships amounts incoming students,” she continues.

However, in terms of academics, the programs has not quite reached its goal of increasing academic intensity.

“We would have liked to see more students stick it out and stay in those honors classes,” says Losekoot. These programs are constantly evolving working to increase success. The Honors Institute, started two years ago, has already been drastically altered to include a larger focus on academics.

“We try to give them a leg up… spend time… making sure they are writing at [a freshman] level,” says Otsuka.

But, as Losekoot points out, there is always a fight between balancing homework, academics, and general preparation to ensure that students receive the education they need before the end of summer break.

The programs also benefit teachers who “need to know what the student body is like here at the school and be able to teach all types of students,” says Otsuka.

Either way, both programs are successful and worthwhile. M-A will continue these initiatives, working to help freshmen become confident both socially and academically ay M-A and creating a cohesive community of passionate learners. Ventura concludes: “I love teaching Compass.”