Summer Programs Continue to Bring Thousands of Students and Visitors to St. Louis Campus

The office of summer studies continued its success in 2016, drawing more than 10,000 participants to Saint Louis University this summer for the fourth year in a row.

Summer studies focuses on supporting, developing, implementing and highlighting the numerous summer opportunities for pre-K through 12th-grade students; encouraging high school and college students to take advantage of summer course offerings; and establishing SLU as a destination for international summer immersion programs and workshops for adult learners.

As part of the office of summer studies branding, the Summer At SLU initiative seeks to build community awareness of activities occurring on campus between May and August while increasing the number of visitors, the revenue generated and the University's level of community engagement – ultimately leading to more prospective SLU students in years to come.

In 2016, 11 new camps and academies were added (bringing the total of pre-K through 12th-grade programs to 56), and more than 150 scholarships awarded.

Well-known programs such as Adventures in Medicine and Science, Grand Theater Camp and the Campus Recreation Youth Program experienced strong growth much like newer programs such as the Mad Science: Secret Agent Lab, Little Pharmacy School and Aviation Academy. Likewise, many of the sports camps reached maximum capacity with record numbers this year, resulting in a 10 percent total increase for camps/academies across campus compared to last year and a 126 percent total increase since 2012.

Campus was also filled with undergraduate and graduate students. Students could be found in class at the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business, eating lunch at the Fresh Gatherings Café or studying outside the Global Citizenship Center. Notably, the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Nursing saw increases in their summer enrollment over last year.

Summer At SLU also continued to include four-week and 12-week international immersion programs and hosted more than 120 students and administrators from China. Students and participants spent their days in the classroom learning about global health, geographic information systems, business and education, while their evenings were filled with exploring our campus and the city of St. Louis.

Relive the excitement, activity and learning that occurred on campus this summer by checking out the annual recap video and photo albums on the Summer At SLU Facebook page. Additionally, Summer At SLU programming for next year will be announced beginning in January 2017 on summer.slu.edu.

If you or your department have an idea for a summer program and/or are interested in developing one, contact Troy Turnipseed, director of summer studies at turniptp@slu.edu. There are numerous opportunities for growth, and the office of summer studies seeks to work with you to spotlight your programs, engage the community and build the foundation for future Billikens to have their best summer yet in 2017.