Summer Institute: Earn College Credit

The Covenant College Summer Institute offers one-week residential programs for motivated high school students to earn college credit. These courses are hosted on Covenant College's campus and taught by Covenant College professors. Admission is competitive, and rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors are encouraged to apply.

In addition to earning college credit, participating in the Summer Institute gives you a taste of a Covenant College education. Mornings are filled with rigorous and engaging academic instruction by Covenant faculty. You might continue your class discussion over lunch each day in the Great Hall with your classmates and professor in a more informal setting.

Afternoons build on the morning's instruction with studying, group work, or research in the library with the support of current Covenant College students serving as teaching assistants.

After dinner in the Great Hall, you'll have opportunities to experience different aspects of residence life at Covenant through a variety of planned activities.

The entire Summer Institute experience - from the classroom to the residence hall - is grounded in Scriptural principles, reminding and challenging students to live out the reality of Christ's preeminence in all things.

Students have the option of studying unique courses taught by Covenant professors. Each class is made up of no more than ten students. 

"What? Me, a Teacher?": Designing, Teaching, and Assessing a Lesson
Dr. Amy Bagby

The course will explore the teaching cycle (planning, teaching, assessing). We will begin with a biblical foundation for teaching and then dissect the practical application of planning a lesson, teaching the lesson, and assessing student growth. Students will get hands-on experience in a classroom setting.

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The Art of Literary Analysis
Dr. Robert Erle Barham

How might one approach a literary work thoughtfully and faithfully? This course will introduce the tools and techniques of literary analysis and interpretation. We will consider the distinct experience of literary art, recognizing both form and function. Addressing selections from fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as film and visual art, we will practice analyzing, discussing, and writing about literature.

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Knowing Our Minds
Dr. Rod Wilson

Our conscious and unconscious beliefs about how our minds work drive many of our behaviors. For example, our ideas about memory influence how we study, interpret eyewitness testimony, and even how we argue. However, many of our beliefs are inaccurate and can cause us to make bad decisions or miscommunicate without even realizing it. This course will consider some of our basic beliefs about how our minds work and how we can use psychological science to improve our understanding of ourselves and the people around us.

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How to Observe What You Can't See
Dr. Preston Hoobler

The science of chemistry deals in particles and interactions that the human eye is incapable of directly seeing. However, what we observe on a human scale can tell us a great deal about what is happening “under the surface” of Creation. Color and temperature changes are examples of observations which tell us that chemistry is happening. Some helpful observations have eluded the unaided human eye. In these cases, brilliant people have devised instruments that provide interpretable data for a capable scientist. This course will cover several different methods of laboratory observation and help connect those observations to chemical understanding.

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Immanuel: The Story of God's Desire to Live with and in Humanity
Dr. Luke Irwin

This course will trace the arc of God’s desire to dwell with humanity. From Eden to the New Jerusalem, we will investigate what it means for God to “dwell” with his chosen people and how his desire to dwell with humanity reveals his love. Important questions will include: what might it mean for God to “dwell” in a human body and amongst human beings? What does it mean for God to appear? What does this mean for the incarnation? What does “divine dwelling” mean for the church today and for the value of human bodies? More broadly, can divine “dwelling” describe the fundamental nature of the biblical story?

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Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Dr. Lynell Martinez

What does it really mean to be made in His image? How can blood make us clean? Using scripture in combination with lessons from anatomy and physiology and examples from medical practice, students will investigate the relationship between our created bodies and their physical and spiritual functions. We will explore what it means to be made in His image and contemplate our dependence on Him as the very breath of life. We will use our understanding of the interconnectedness of individual cells and organs to better understand our own dependence on God as well as our Christian community. Using lessons from cancer biology, we will see the devastating consequences when just one of our cells operates independently, outside of the laws of the body. Finally, we will explore the scriptural and physiological significance of blood and its ability to bring new life to those who are dead.

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Does Money Make the World Go ‘Round? A survey of money, inflation, and international finance
Dr. John Rush

This course will explore the nature of money, its role in the national and international economy, and what it is that we love when we love money. We will discuss the key characteristics of money and survey the historical transition from commodity to fiat money. The role of the Federal Reserve System and impact of the money supply on the domestic economy will be examined, including the relationship between the money supply and hyperinflation. The operation of the global exchange rate system will be examined, including an evaluation of the dominant role of the U.S. dollar, exploration of exchange rate crises, and a survey of the role and origin of the International Monetary Fund. The enhanced understanding of money developed over the course will be applied to our lives as disciples of Jesus who want to resist the temptation to love money.

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The Art of Place
Professor Jeffrey Morton

The subject of place is not a neutral one. Whether we recognize it or not, we all come from somewhere and are presently in a place. In this experiential class we will explore the subject in an art studio context informed by social and critical theory, and theological and Christian thinking about place. While walking the campus of Covenant College, making maps and notational drawing, and through the act of photography and journaling, we will ask the simple question: where do we belong?

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ENG 106 Writing about Nature: Where the Wild Things Are
Dr. Sarah Huffines

Nature writing has a long history, but it is often relegated to the margins of contemporary writing. What is nature writing’s particular American history? What role can it play in a believer’s writing and meditative life? This course will include classic readings from nature writing, mostly nonfiction, and will involve daily exercises in writing and revising students’ own work.

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POL 102 Fundamental Cares: Reason, Honor, and Faith
Dr. Philip Bunn

Two of the most basic questions of politics are who counts as a citizen, and who is regarded as an excellent citizen worthy of praise or emulation. Our answers to these questions expose our “fundamental cares,” the things for which we might be willing to risk life and limb. Different political thinkers and communities in history have provided different answers to these questions. In some, honor was praised above all. In others, reason was elevated. In some, people are willing to die for their faith. This course examines the development of politics through these three fundamental cares, with particular emphasis on exemplary selected texts from major thinkers in the history of political thought: Homer, Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine.

In addition to learning from Covenant professors, students will live in a Covenant College residence hall, dine in Covenant's Great Hall, and experience a taste of Covenant's campus life.

Current Covenant students will serve as resident assistants in the residence hall, and will host fun activities each evening. Summer Institute participants will also have group devotions together several times throughout the week.

While the summer experience isn't exactly the same as a student's experience during the regular academic year, over the course of your week in residence on campus you will become more familiar with what life is like for Covenant students and better understand the value of a Covenant education.

Admission to the Summer Institute is competitive, and rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors in high school with a weighted GPA of 3.0 or higher are eligible.

There are four steps to apply for admission:

• Submit a completed application.
• Submit a 200-250 word essay to explain why you are interested in participating in Covenant College's Summer Institute. Please describe how your interest in the subject matter of your preferred course has been shaped by your family, church, and/or broader community.
• Submit a current high school transcript.

Applicants may submit application materials by email to summerinstitute@covenant.edu, by fax to 706.820.0893, or by mail to Covenant College Summer Institute, 14049 Scenic Highway, Lookout Mountain, Georgia 30750.

Cost

The total investment to enroll in Covenant College's Summer Institute is $1010.

The cost is composed of the following:

• Tuition for one hour of college credit - $715
• Housing in a Covenant College residence hall - $135
• Meals in Covenant College's Great Hall - $110
• Residence life activities - $50

Apply Now

Do you have questions that we haven't answered here? We'd be glad to help.

You are welcome to contact our admissions staff with questions about any aspect of the Summer Institute