King’s Hosts First Online Summer Academy

During two weeks of July, 27 high school students participated in Summer Academy Online. Meeting in real time through lectures, discussions, and hangouts on Zoom, students earned one college credit for a week spent studying finance or journalism with King’s professors. The finance program took place July 12-17, and two tracks in journalism ran July 26-31.

For the last five years, King’s has hosted Summer Academy on the College campus and on field trips around New York City. Once teaching and operations went remote in March due to COVID-19, the College decided to offer the summer program remotely and at a significantly reduced price.

Student Jensen Frey, who also participated in Summer Academy in-person in 2019, said, “It was obvious from how smooth the week went that there was an incredible amount of work that went into it behind the scenes.”

Frey took part in Week 1’s Faith and Finance track taught by Dr. Kimberly Reeve and Prof. Michael Hrynuik. The week centered around the question, “Is it possible to be a Christian leader and find a way to glorify God within the world of financial services?” Reeve and Hrynuik, both Christians who have worked in business and finance along with their work at King’s, discussed how Biblical principles are applicable to everyday operations in business and at financial institutions. They also covered topics such as bitcoin, the history of money, and how to make a business pitch.

Frey said that the lectures were “so interesting and focused on relevant topics. You could tell they weren’t just reading off of a PowerPoint. They seemed to genuinely enjoy teaching and discussing questions with us.”

In Week 2, Prof. Paul Glader taught Arts and Culture Reporting and Prof. Clemente Lisi taught Sports Journalism. Prof. Glader assigned his students to review a virtual exhibit at MoMA. “The arts world has long wrestled with digital categories,” he said, “and this year their ability to make, show and demonstrate art in that new format is very important.”

In Sports Journalism, Prof. Lisi gave students hands-on writing experiences, focusing on the life of Jackie Robinson. He gave a virtual tour of Brooklyn locations that highlight the famed baseball player. In addition, he welcomed journalists from Newsweek to answer students’ questions. Columnist Terry Mattingly also gave some of the lectures in the journalism tracks.

Summer Academy student Nathan Freeman participated in the Sports Journalism track. He said his interactions with classmates and Prof. Lisi were a highlight of his week. “We bounced [ideas] back and forth.”

Freeman said he enjoyed the discussions about bias in journalism in Mattingly’s sessions. Freeman said he also appreciated spending time after class in Zoom game sessions organized by Ward and student staffer Connor Kopko (MCA ’22).

Calling Summer Academy one of his “favorite parts of the summer,” Freeman found stronger footing to pursue journalism in the future by learning more about the industry and how to get internships. “This was the first Sports Journalism thing I had seen for high schoolers, so I jumped at the opportunity.”

Photos courtesy of Paul Glader.