The school year doesn’t officially begin until August. For UP RVA’s newest students, though, the journey starts weeks earlier.
Every July, the University of Richmond becomes the home base for Summer Institute. During July, our newest students come together to build friendships, strengthen academic skills, explore Richmond, and prepare for their high school journey at one of UP RVA’s partner schools.
But Summer Institute isn’t simply about getting ready for the first day of class.
It’s about helping students walk into that first day knowing they already belong.
Before students ask for help, they already know who to ask.
Throughout the month, learning specialists and other educators from our partner schools visit Summer Institute, meeting students in a familiar setting before the school year begins.
By the time students arrive on campus in August, those adults are no longer strangers.
That first conversation is already behind them.
Before students face new challenges, they practice saying yes.
Summer Institute is filled with experiences designed to stretch students in new ways.
They cook meals together. They tackle summer reading through discussion. They explore Richmond. They kayak the James River.
During one outing this summer, Janiyah tipped her kayak almost immediately after getting on the water.
She climbed right back in.
It wasn’t the kayaking that mattered.
It was her willingness to keep trying.
That’s the kind of confidence we hope students carry with them—not the confidence that comes from already knowing the answer, but the confidence that comes from believing they can figure it out.
Before students become classmates, they become family.
Perhaps the biggest transformation over four weeks isn’t academic at all.
Students begin encouraging one another. They open up during discussions. They ask more questions. They begin leaning on the people around them instead of trying to figure everything out alone.
Those relationships become the foundation for everything that follows.
As Amanda Hach, UP RVA’s Chief Program Officer, puts it:
“We hope that five years from now, they don’t remember every activity we did. We hope they remember they became part of this family.”
That’s why we start before school starts.
Because before students can reach their full potential, they need to know they have a community behind them.
At UP RVA, we believe relationships come before results.
Summer Institute is where those relationships begin.
