Summer Program in Williamsburg, Virginia

(From left) David Brannon, Joe Moxley, Gavin Hallisey, Will Kersey, Christian Maines, Maddie Kelleher, Campbell Scheuerman and Sarah Knott. (Photo: Colleen Betti)

When I left the June heat of Houston for Virginia, I thought that I was escaping this blistering Texas climate. Unfortunately, Williamsburg is just about as hot and twice as humid, situated in the swamplands between the James and York rivers. However, the uncomfortable weather detracted little from what I think were some of the best weeks of my life at the College of William and Mary.

I sent in an application to the National Institute for American History and Democracy (NIAHD) at the College late last year. I had visited the College before when our family went on trips to Colonial Williamsburg, a restored 18th century rendition of what used to be Virginia’s capitol that is adjacent to the campus.

The Westover Plantation

NIAHD runs two three-week sessions of their Pre-Collegiate Program. During each session, students visit something on the order of 15 sites in and around the tidewater Virginia area and work in small seminars of 8-10 students that are taught by scholars affiliated with the College’s history department.

The College is a historically significant location in its own right, with more than three centuries of history since its 1693 charter and convenient location within an hour’s drive of the Jamestown and Yorktown sites. For an enthusiastic student of history, there is no better place to learn and study - we spent many hours reading scholarly articles and writing our own essays based on those articles, but there is nothing like visiting the sites where that history actually took place. I would certainly recommend NIAHD’s summer program to any rising junior or senior with a passion for history.