High School Summer Program in Greece
Program Dates: July 2-17, 2020 – HSSP 2020 will be offered online.
Program Director: Nicolas Prevelakis, Lecturer in Harvard's Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, Assistant Director of Curricular Development, CHS DC
Administrative support: CHS in Greece, Matina Goga, Curricular Development Manager
Important update!
CHS Greece, following Harvard University’s COVID-19 related announcements and guidelines, as well as those from the Greek and international authorities, and based on discussions with other collaborating units of the University, decided to proceed with changes in the structure of this year’s High School Summer Program (HSSP 2020).
The program will not be canceled, but it will be offered online during the scheduled dates (July 2-17, 2020).
Program faculty and managers are working with web-based tools offered by Harvard to develop an innovative, synchronous and asynchronous educational template for this year’s Program.
The participant students and faculty will not be asked to travel to Nafplio, Greece, in the summer but to join a learning management system (LMS) and participate in the HSSP remotely.
Moreover, CHS managers and program faculty are currently exploring the possibility to bring together, at some point, this year’s HSSP team for in-person sessions at the Center’s premises in Nafplio. Further announcements will follow about this in the next few months.
For questions please contact Ms. Matina Goga, CHS Greece Curricular Development Manager, through telephone (+30 27520 47030 ext. 1, Nafplio, Greece) and/or email hssp_greece(at)chs.harvard.edu.
The application is now closed.
This program is offered in cooperation with Harvard’s Committee on Degrees in Social Studies and the support of Harvard’s Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies.
About the Program
The Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece High School Summer Program (HSSP) is an innovative program in English for talented senior high school students with passion for learning and a desire to excel.
Launched in 2012, the HSSP is an annual 16-day program held during the summer, after the Greek high school's examination period, at the CHS facility in Nafplio. This year the program will be divided between the CHS facility in Nafplio and the FOUGARO Art Center. It will be offered in cooperation with Harvard's Committee on Degrees in Social Studies and the support of the Center for European Studies. Moreover, this year the Municipality of Nafplio is actively supporting the HSSP 2020, covering the transportation means between the two premises.
HSSP offers scholarships to high school students, from all disciplines, and thus the opportunity to spend more than two weeks at the CHS attending an intensive daily seminar on the topic of “Introduction to the Study of Humanity”, based on a course offered by the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, Harvard University, and designed each year by Harvard Faculty and Teaching Fellows studying at Harvard, who are selected after careful evaluation of their applications in response to a call for interest.
During the seminar, the students from Greek high schools engage in a mixture of thought-provoking activities, such as the study of original philosophical and other texts, projects, field surveys, teleconferences, presentations, a volunteer activity, simulation games, a conference, etc., which enrich and broaden their educational horizons and cultivate their way of thinking, their knowledge and skills. Moreover, thanks to the help of the Educational Advisor and American Program Coordinator of the Fulbright Foundation in Greece, Greek high school students are able to explore the options and opportunities they have for continuing their studies in American institutions of higher education.
The undergraduate students from Harvard acting as the HSSP Teaching Fellows work in cooperation with their professors, assembling course material as well as preparing every other activity related to the HSSP program. During the program, they coordinate its sessions and support students’ study hours, preparation and implementation of everyday tasks.
High school students eligible to apply ~ the HSSP expansion
The HSSP is offered gratis for the participants by the Center for Hellenic Studies in cooperation with Harvard's Committee on Degrees in Social Studies since 2012, and with the support of Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University since 2019. It is addressed to senior high school students from the Argolis region, where the Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece is located. In 2014 the program expanded and accepts two students from the Arsakeia Schools, within the framework of the collaboration with the Society for the Promotion of Education and Learning.
In the summer of 2018 the HSSP opened outside Greece, and launched a new collaboration with the Odyssey Charter School, Wilmington, Delaware in the United States, whose curriculum allows its students to obtain Certificate of Attainment in Greek language, offering a slot to an excellent student from that school.
In 2019, the HSSP opened beyond Argolis region in Greece for the first time. The Center for Hellenic Studies offered scholarships for two senior high school students from schools of Western Attica, covering the students and their guards’ accommodation and daily expenses.
In 2020 the Center for Hellenic Studies will offer scholarships for four senior high school students from schools of Western Attica, in so doing the overall slots will expand to 24. In addition, in 2020 up to six slots will open for Harvard undergraduate students who will serve as Teaching Fellows, gaining teaching experience.
The Center in Greece continues to explore ways to open the HSSP program to even more students and regions of Greece and beyond.
“Introduction to the Study of Humanity”
This year, the seminar will be led by Dr. Nicolas Prevelakis (the Program’s Director and Lecturer in Harvard's Committee on Degrees in Social Studies and Assistant Director of Curricular Development, CHS DC), and six Teaching Fellows (students at Harvard University). It will introduce students to the foundations of the social sciences and will cover such topics as the different types of human societies, the factors that lead to social change, the relationship between morality and politics, and the role of nationalism, ethnicity, and religion in today’s world. The students will have the opportunity to experience an American college-level course, relying heavily on student participation, class discussion, writing assignments, independent research, and public presentations.
Senior high school students from the Argolis region, two students from the Arsakeia Schools, one student from the Odyssey Charter School, Wilmington, Delaware and four students from Western Attica are currently eligible to participate in the program.
Each day will consist of three hours of class in the morning, followed by three hours of activities, lectures, and study sessions in the afternoon. Online sessions with Harvard scholars will be held occasionally. The students will have the opportunity to work closely with the teaching fellows from Harvard University, who, under the guidance of the Program’s instructors, will provide them substantial help and guidance throughout the course as they prepare their assignments. The students, among others, will develop a research project, which they will present at the program’s closing event.
The course will be capped at 24 students in total, who will regularly split in two groups, in order to assure close interaction among the students, professors, and teaching fellows.
Extra sessions will be dedicated to presentations about the American educational system by the Educational Advisor and American Program Coordinator of the Fulbright Foundation in Greece, and will provide students with information about educational opportunities and university application procedures. Moreover, visiting professors will offer a different perspective on the notions taught during the Program.
The HSSP in 2020 will take place at the CHS facility in Nafplio, and the venues of the FOUGARO Art Center, to which CHS extends sincere thanks for the hospitality. The Center also extends sincere thanks to the Municipality of Nafplio for the facilitation of the HSSP 2020 transportation from and to the FOUGARO premises.
