Ashbrook Academy Summer Programs

The Ashbrook Academy is offering three summer academies the week of July 7, 2024. The summer programs are designed for rising high school juniors and seniors who share a deep interest in U.S. History, Politics, and Economics. Unlike other courses or programs that tend to erode confidence and pride in our country by emphasizing its historical failures, the Ashbrook Academies invite you to consider the American experiment in self-government as a triumph, a victory for reason and the human spirit that warrants grateful celebration but also demands serious study.

• Politics and Literature: In this academy students will engage in a careful reading of important works of American literature. Along with short stories by American authors, the great texts for this academy will include works like Frederick Douglass’ Narrative, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, or Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.
• Capitalism vs. Socialism: For more than a century, two rival systems of political economy, capitalism and socialism, have clashed over the proper place of government in directing production, distribution, and exchange. The purpose of this Academy is to compare these two systems, from their theoretical origins to how they clash in practice during the Cold War.
• CSI: The Science of Crime Scene Investigations: This academy will relate real-world applications of analytical chemistry and biological sciences to the investigation of crimes. The underlying chemistry and biochemistry involved in forensic analysis will be addressed. Students will not only be learning the theory behind these techniques, but will be given hands-on experience using instrumentation.