After eight years of MFS summer enrichment programs, Head of School Julia de la Torre announced that the Summer Scholars program will be discontinued effective immediately, and that the Summer Chemistry program will be held one last time in summer 2021.
In an email sent to MFS parents and guardians on January 27, de la Torre noted that the cancellation “[was] a result of the pandemic.” She continued, “It has become clear that we will not be able to sustainably run Summer Programs going forward. Our resources and energy are best used and will focus solely on our school-year programs.”
Assistant Head of School Meredith Godley echoed de la Torre’s message. “There is so much that has happened over the past almost year with COVID and we just wanted to make sure that we were focusing entirely on our school year academic program,” said Godley.
On this summer’s “to-do list,” Godley mentioned that the school will be “focused on things like the schedule” and an “at-home component of the school next year,” just to name a few of the tasks to finish before the school year. The overall goal is to be as prepared as possible by September, and as Godley put it, “give [the school] the summer time to work on changes in the COVID landscape for the fall.” Part of this planning includes organizing campus in accordance with COVID-19 regulations.
“We’ll be really focused on the physical plant [and] getting it ready for whatever distancing restrictions are in place,” said Godley.“Not having a summer camp here will help us do that.”
When asked if the school’s financial status played a role in the decision to cancel summer programming, Godley stated that “there were so many factors that went into [the decision], so when you talk about resources, that’s one resource, economic resources.” But the resource Godley is most focused on protecting is not economic. Godley explained, “I think staff and time and energy [are] the most important resource[s] that we were worried about conserving.”
A follow up email sent to families on January 28 by Director of Auxiliary Programs Martha Cameron added that “the for-credit Summer Chemistry course for rising sophomores will be offered for one final summer in 2021.”
Summer Chemistry and Upper School science teacher Drew Newman mentioned that the decision to cancel the program was made by the administrative council, and he is a “little bummed” to see it go. “I enjoy the chance that I get to build a classroom dynamic with a set of students during the summer, and then continue that going into sophomore year,” said Newman.
Newman is not the only community member that is sad to see summer programs disappear. Haila Desai ’24, who has been an avid participant of the Summer Scholars program since the sixth grade, expressed that she did not expect it to be cancelled. “I was surprised because I thought that people did it a lot, and I was really sad because I had a lot of great memories there,” she said.
Desai also reflected on the relationships she made during her summers, noting, “Summer Scholars gave you a really good opportunity to meet other people…it actually brought a lot of students in from different schools. I know a few people who did [the program], and then came to MFS for high school because they liked it so much.”
For the upcoming summer, in place of the Summer Scholars program, de la Torre briefly mentioned that the school is thinking about an alternative. “We are still considering offering a limited selection of summer virtual mini-courses led by current MFS teachers and/or by partner organizations from outside of the school,” she said. This was originally introduced in the summer of 2020 when MFS was unable to have in-person summer courses due to COVID restrictions.
There is still a glimmer of hope for the continuation of summer programs. Godley understands that although it is not a possibility for the near future, “things change all the time, so a few years from now, you never know.”
