Summer programs

All incoming freshmen attend Eastside's Summer Bridge Program. During this six-week course, students take English and math classes as well as a variety of elective offerings. This program allows students an opportunity to become familiar with Eastside's rigorous coursework and high expectations. Taught by seasoned Eastside faculty, the Bridge Program plays a vital part in our effort to assess students’ abilities and skill levels, begin building the fundamental skills that are essential to success in a college preparatory program, and convey our expectation that students will make a serious and sustained commitment to their education.

Our Senior Summer Institute, or “boot camp” as the students call it, is taught by our Director of College Counseling Anna Takahashi. This two-week session in August gives our seniors a head start on the college application process as they research colleges and universities that would be a good match, begin work on their personal statements, and start researching financial aid opportunities.

We help and encourage all students to create meaningful summer plans. Summer activities have included summer sessions at many four-year colleges, including Stanford University, Columbia University, U.C.L.A., Cornell University, and UC Berkeley. These summer college sessions give students a brief but invaluable taste of college life -- a chance to “picture themselves” as college students. Wide-ranging experiences beyond those granted on college campuses have included community service projects in Latin America, participation in the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming and the Rotary Club Leadership Camp, travel to Brazil and China through the Experience in International Living Program, and job internships at Hewlett Packard, Intuit, Visa, Skolar, Instill and Stanford Medical School.