Another Terrific Summer for Harvard-Westlake's Summer Enrichment Program

July is a busy month for Middle School Attendance Coordinator Brenda Simon. She is the director of Harvard-Westlake’s Summer Enrichment Program, which provides an enriching academic and extracurricular summer program for academically motivated students who are historically under-represented at independent schools.

The program is free of charge for the students, who enroll for the summers before their fifth and sixth grade years at their respective schools. During the month-long program, students take classes in science, math, computer skills, swimming, physical education, creative writing, world languages, and visual and performing arts. Current Harvard-Westlake faculty and staff volunteer to teach classes--some for two weeks, others for the entire four-week session.

Each summer, approximately 45 new students are accepted into the two-year program from an applicant pool of around 300. “I don’t advertise for the program,” says Brenda Simon, “because I am afraid I will be bombarded if I do!”

Applicant families hear about the program by word of mouth and come from numerous schools in the San Fernando Valley, Westchester, Inglewood and the Culver City areas. All supplies are provided – including materials to build race cars as part of the art curriculum, an activity at the end of the program that is a favorite among the students. At the end of the program, there is a family night when parents and families meet the faculty, learn about the students’ experience, see the campus facilities, view artwork and enjoy a pizza party.

The Summer Enrichment Program is also a great way for the school to identify strong students for potential enrollment. More than a dozen SEP alumni are currently enrolled at Harvard-Westlake and have demonstrated their pride in the program by volunteering as SEP teaching assistants.

To see photos from this year’s Summer Enrichment Program, click here.