Summer programs

All incoming freshmen attend Eastside's Summer Bridge Program. During this six-week course, students take English, math and financial literacy classes. 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.

Students not enrolled in Summer Bridge or Senior Summer Institute are taking classes such as art, law, fitness, SAT prep, and engineering. Off campus, they are embarking on international and outdoor adventures through the EIL (Experiment in International Living), Amigos de las Americas, NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), and Outward Bound. Locally, many are rolling up their sleeves to take part in community service programs at the Boys and Girls Clubs, Girls to Women and the YMCA.

Several are gaining job experience through research internships at Stanford's RISE (Raising Interest in Science and Engineering) and SIMR (Stanford Institutes in Medical Summer Research) programs, as well as pre-law internships at the Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. Four students are taking part in NASA STEP (Science Technology Enrichment Program) learning about robotics, aerospace engineering and rocketry and biology on other planets.

Some students are even getting a college preview by attending summer programs on other college campuses through programs including MIT's MITES program (Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science), American University's Future Latino Leaders in Law and U.C. Davis's COSMOS program (California Summer School for Math and Science). These summer college sessions give students a brief but invaluable taste of college life -- a chance to “picture themselves” as college students.