ASPADVANCED STUDIES PROGRAM
Welcoming. Eye-opening. Transformative.
Since 1958, talented and engaged students from around New Hampshire have come together for the Advanced Studies Program (ASP) at St. Paul’s School, a unique, immersive program that is equal parts academic exploration, college preparation and summer fun.
The ASP is about diving deep into thought-provoking conversations in which you confront real-world problems and relevant ideas. It is about developing friendships with like-minded peers from across the state and being exposed to new activities and new career paths. It is about getting a jump start that will have you feeling confident about the college process.
In today’s social, political and environmental climate, your community and the world need curious minds, big thinkers and active citizens. What inspires you? Whether it is artificial intelligence, sustainability, law and government, astronomy, or something else, the ASP offers you a special opportunity. It will be a summer to remember; one that just might change your life.
I know that what you will find in these pages will pique your interest, and I encourage you to visit our website at sps.edu/asp to learn more. I look forward to responding to any questions you have — and to reading your application!
Sincerely,
Michelle Taffe ASP’85 Director
DISCOVER the many opportunities the St. Paul’s School Advanced Studies Program holds for you.
Learn. Live. Lead.
Are you a student who . . . loves to learn? embraces challenge? wants to meet new people? wants to stand out in the college application process? would like to do something fun next summer?
The St. Paul’s School Advanced Studies Program might just be the experience you’re looking for. Held every summer on the beautiful SPS grounds in Concord, the ASP is a fully residential five-week experience designed to offer engaging and inspiring academics in a college-like environment. The ASP offers:
u EXCEPTIONAL ACADEMICS
• 3:1 student-to-faculty and intern ratio
• Average class size: 12 students
• 15+ major course choices
• College-prep writing workshops
u WORLD-CLASS FACILITIES
• Ohrstrom Library
• Lindsay Math and Science Center, with biology and engineering labs and greenhouse
• Observatory
• Fine arts building
• Dance and theater studio spaces
• Athletic and Fitness Center
u AN EXTRAORDINARY SETTING
• 2,000 acres with 25+ miles of trails
• Multiple fully maintained athletic fields, including turf field and outdoor track
• Comfortable dorms with modern common rooms
YOUR MORNINGS ARE BUSY, REWARDING AND FUN
Start your day with the full community in the School’s Chapel for an interfaith program featuring inspiring presentations, announcements, music and laughter.
Then it’s off to class, and a morning immersed in conversation, field trips, labs or studio work with talented faculty and a cohort of enthusiastic peers. Our major courses provide opportunities for experiential and collaborative learning.
... YOUR EVENINGS ARE, TOO.
In the afternoon, students participate in “rec,” choosing an activity out of more than a dozen fun and engaging options. Some students work on their skills and fitness for an upcoming fall season sport. Others try their hand at something new, like learning squash in the McLane Squash Center, or weight training in the fully equipped weight room at the Athletic and Fitness Center. Additional options often include rock climbing, dance or yoga. The rec program allows you to discover new interests, develop current abilities and meet new people outside your classes or dorm.
After dinner, coffee houses, affinity group meetings and study hours run until 9:30 p.m. Then return to your dormitory for the traditional ASP inter-house pizza feed and serenade or simply hang out with friends.
Learn Here.
More than just summer school, the ASP is an experience that cannot be found anywhere else. Students, teachers and interns come together from across the Granite State to live together and to learn from one another. As our structure and schedule allow for a level of focus not possible during the school year, the course material and depth of study are similar to what you will find in college. This academic experience is among the many ways the ASP will help you prepare for college — and stand out in the application process.
MAJOR COURSE
Your major course will be the cornerstone of your ASP experience, challenging you to explore beyond your comfort zone and take a deep dive into a discipline of interest. The work you begin in the classroom will extend into nightly study groups, field trips, observatory or laboratory work or performances with your classmates. For some, the major course is an opportunity to investigate a new field of interest; other ASP graduates credit their major course with leading them to their career path. New courses are offered every summer.
RECENT MAJOR COURSES
u After the Rally
u Astronomy
u Data Driven
u Ecology
u Engineering
u Entrepreneurship
u Film Studies
u Forbidden Fictions
u International Relations
and Global Politics
u Law and Governance
u Molecular Biology
u Physiology for Athletic Performance
u Studio Arts
HANDS ON
At the ASP, coursework often extends beyond the classroom and challenges students to examine how they can apply their knowledge to the world around them.
A hallmark project of the Engineering major course is modifying ride-on electric cars for Go Baby Go, a program that provides children with disabilities with a way to move independently.
Students work in teams during class and study hours to customize cars to meet a child’s needs, even incorporating children’s favorite colors and cartoon characters for the design. As they tinker with wires to connect headlights, power steering and more, students gain real-world engineering experience and learn how to problem-solve with guidance from teachers and interns.
The project culminates with a visit from families and children who come to SPS to test their cars while students make final adjustments. For students, meeting the child they modified the electric car for is a special moment that allows them to see the real-world impact of their work.
LEARN MORE about how the ASP makes learning meaningful and fun.
INTERCONNECTED
How do you make data come to life? Tying it into the work of your ASP peers in other classes is just one way. Students in Data Driven work with those in After the Rally to build a poll aimed at understanding individuals’ attitudes and opinions about current events and their relationship to social justice.
In a recent class, they also worked with students in Forbidden Fictions, a college-level dive into a variety of novels, plays, works of poetry and film, to analyze the frequency of particular words and phrases in Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” — an exercise that allowed them to examine themes and meaning on an entirely different level.
“Data Driven is the most engaging class I’ve ever taken, with something new and challenging every day. The work is also satisfying: finding correlations in the data and coming to conclusions.”
SAMPLE AN ASP CLASS: ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Business has emerged in recent years as the most popular college major, with nearly 400,000 undergraduates earning degrees in the discipline each year. Reflecting both that trend and students’ interests, the ASP introduced an Entrepreneurship major course several summers ago. The popular class offers students the opportunity to conduct market research, build profit and loss statements and marketing plans, study successful local businesses and more.
LEARN MORE about Entrepreneurship at the ASP.
WRITING WORKSHOP
In addition to your major course, you will take Writing Workshop, where you will work through the writing process individually, with instructors and with your peers. With an emphasis on the personal essay, Writing Workshop provides opportunities not only for creative self-expression and rigorous critical thinking but also for building a set of skills to draw upon in school and in the college application process.
MEET AN ASP TEACHER: JOHN BOUTON
An independent school English teacher for more than three decades, John Bouton has taught Writing Workshop at the ASP for 11 years — and counting.
What keeps you coming back to the ASP? I love the environment of being able to have small classes and the facilities in a place like St. Paul’s School. I work with talented colleagues and students who really appreciate the opportunity to partake of all the wonderful resources that the School has to offer. What really keeps me coming back, though, is the feeling I get here — it’s about how nurturing these grounds are and how open to experimentation and curiosity and a kind of natural innovation that seems to happen during ASP.
What is Writing Workshop, and why is it important? The workshop is rooted in the personal essay as a place for students to learn about their writing process. I’m looking for meaningful creation through the alchemy of transforming an everyday experience into something memorable, maybe even transcendent. Clear, powerful and precise writing – that’s the goal. Because of the small class sizes and the intensity and intimacy of living in community with one another for the summer, there’s an opportunity to build trust — to realize that your teacher is your collaborator and editor in the writing process rather than an authority figure grading you makes a huge difference.
LEARN MORE about what John Bouton loves about teaching at the ASP.
4 5 7 8 1 6
u Athletic and Fitness Center
Get your workouts in here
2 3
u Ohrstrom Library
Study here with friends
u Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science
Go to class here
u Fine Arts Building
Get creative here
u Chapel
Start your day here
3 4 7 6 EXPLORE the grounds and take a 3-D building tour.
u Memorial Hall
Attend college events and the talent show here
u New Space Black Box Theater
Dance with your friends here on Saturday nights
u Coit Dining Hall
Enjoy your meals here
1
Live Here.
In the fully residential ASP, you will study, share meals and live with peers, teachers and interns on the beautiful St. Paul’s School grounds. Equally as important as classroom instruction, living together in this community will help prepare you to succeed academically and interpersonally in college and beyond.
HOUSING
Students live in houses with a faculty member who serves as the house supervisor and college-aged interns who mentor students throughout all aspects of the program. Dorm living will allow you to better connect with peers in your classes and meet people from other courses. Your house supervisor will plan events like pizza or ice cream gatherings and leadership programming that will further build your ASP community experience.
HEAR FROM STUDENTS as they share their experiences of living on the SPS grounds.
“The grounds of St. Paul’s are, in a word, gorgeous. Nature presents itself in a way that doesn’t happen in the city. Everything is within reach, from the classroom to the dining hall.”
TRADITIONS
u SERENADES: Have a blast with your dormmates preparing an adaptation of a song as a surprise for another house.
u DORM FEEDS: Enjoy pizza, chicken fingers and other snacks after evening study hours with friends — your dormmates, and sometimes also students from other houses.
u TALENT SHOW: An opportunity to showcase a solo or group performance with the community.
u HARRY POTTER DAY: Inspired by the gothic architecture of the beautiful SPS campus, transport yourself to Hogwarts and a world of witchcraft and wizardry for the day with inter-house games, Quidditch and more.
u ALUMNI DAY: The ASP has more than 12,000 alumni. We invite them back to the ASP for the day to enjoy the campus, reconnect with classmates and meet current students.
u FAMILY DAY: Family members are invited to SPS to visit students, tour the grounds, meet faculty and sit in on classes.
“There are many things you get to do here, and it’s all educational. So you’re learning while having fun at the same time.”
Lead Here.
The ASP is not only a community of curious students, but also one of engaged citizens — the future leaders of New Hampshire. Woven into the ASP experience is the New Hampshire Leadership Institute (NHLI), during which you and your peers will consider the challenges facing your generation and think about the big questions of leadership.
The backbone of the NHLI is the Leadership Speaker Series. Our dynamic speakers will expose you to new ideas and expanded possibilities for your future. In small group discussions, you will reflect on your own strengths and sense of purpose.
Previous speakers include:
u Kate Bergeron, ASP ’88, VP for hardware engineering, Apple, Inc.
u Matt Bonner, retired NBA player
u Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, ASP ’96, professor of conflict resolution and political science
u James Collins, bioengineer and MacArthur Fellow
u Jane Flegal, ASP ’04, expert adviser, climate engineering science and policy
u Julian Jefferson, public defender and law professor
u Marie-Elizabeth Ramas, family physician and healthcare equity advocate
u Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
u Gov. Chris Sununu
u Mark Zankel, NH state director, The Nature Conservancy
LEARN MORE about how the ASP nurtures the college-and-beyond leadership potential of New Hampshire high school students every summer.
“Throughout the NHLI program, I was able to learn that leadership looks different in various careers and being a successful leader means to be confident in yourself.”
Be College-Ready.
All aspects of the ASP are designed to help you stand out in the college application process. Through one-on-one meetings and weekly events, college counselors will give you a head start on this critical next step in your academic journey.
u ONE-ON-ONE COLLEGE ADVISING: Reflect on your interests and goals to build your college list with a knowledgeable counselor.
u WEEKLY COLLEGE PREP EVENTS: Sessions include navigating the college admissions process, financing college, application basics and more.
u COLLEGE DAY: An event exclusively for ASP students, you will learn about a variety of colleges and speak to admissions representatives. Approximately 50 colleges and universities from across the country participate.
u COLLEGE ESSAY FEEDBACK: Hone your writing skills and begin drafting your college essay in Writing Workshop.
u RECOMMENDATIONS: At the end of the summer program, you will receive written comments from your major course teacher, Writing Workshop teacher and house supervisor. Evaluations may be sent to colleges at your request.
COLLEGE ADVISING
The intensive, personalized nature of the ASP extends to our college advising program, where each student works closely with one of our experienced advisers over the course of five weeks to take a deep dive on every aspect of the college application process. The journey starts months before students arrive on the St. Paul’s School grounds, when they complete a survey to capture where they are in their college search, and includes group workshops, one-on-one meetings, and preparation for the ASP college fair.
Many students say that the ASP college advising program offers them the type of individualized attention and road map that isn’t possible at their high schools. Get to know our college advisers, and hear what two 2024 ASP students had to say about the advising process.
LEARN MORE about college advising at the ASP.
COLLEGE DAY
Each summer, admissions representatives from approximately 50 colleges and universities from across the U.S. spend a Saturday afternoon at St. Paul’s School for the sole purpose of meeting the students who attend the ASP. These representatives know that they’re meeting some of the academically strongest rising high school seniors and juniors in the state, and because this is a college fair exclusively for the ASP, students get more time with the colleges that pique their interest to ask questions, gather information ... and make an impression on admissions counselors.
“There is no question that ASP graduates are well prepared to come to schools like Middlebury and squeeze
every drop from the opportunities they find. They are confident, skilled learners, highly engaged participants in activities, and important contributors to school culture. Frankly, I wish that I lived in New Hampshire so that my own children could attend the ASP!”
— Samuel N.
Prouty
Executive Director of Admissions Middlebury College
“ASP, above all else, has made me want to go to college. I’ve really grown into campus life and I’m eager to start on the college journey soon.”
AFTER THE ASP
During the past five years, ASP alumni have matriculated at many top-ranked colleges and universities, including:
American University
Barnard College
Bates College
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Brown University
Cal Tech
Carlton College
Case Western Reserve University
Clemson University
Colby College
Colgate University
College of the Holy Cross
College of William & Mary
Columbia University
Connecticut College
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Davidson College
Duke University
Emerson College
Emory University
George Washington University
Georgetown University
Hamilton College
Hampshire College
Harvard University
Haverford College
Ithaca College
Johns Hopkins University
Kenyon College
Lafayette College
Lehigh University
MIT
Middlebury College
Mount Holyoke College
New York University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Purdue University
Reed College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Skidmore College
Smith College
Stanford University
Trinity College
Tufts University
Tulane University
Union College
University of Chicago
University of New Hampshire
University of Notre Dame
University of Southern California
University of St. Andrews
University of Vermont
US Coast Guard Academy
US Marine Corps
US Naval Academy
Vassar College
Villanova University
Washington University St. Louis
Wellesley College
Yale University
APPLY TO THE ASP BY JANUARY 6
Applying to the ASP is easy and free. Learn more by visiting sps.edu/asp-summer or attending an information session for prospective students.
No one should be deterred by financial limitations from applying to the ASP. We meet demonstrated need for all who qualify and are proud to offer aid to nearly half of the student body each year.
LEARN MORE about applying.
“I have enjoyed ASP so much. I thought everyone was exaggerating when they said they had the time of their lives here, but now I have realized that they were not. I love being surrounded by likeminded people who, like me, love to learn and grow.”
325 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
603-229-4777
sps.edu/asp
Follow us:
@ASPStPauls