Welcome to the Chaminade Center for Excellence

The Chaminade Center for Excellence (CCE) is Chaminade College Preparatory’s answer for parents who seek year-round enrichment opportunities for their children. Through relevant, engaging and dynamic learning experiences, CCE students will expand their knowledge and creative expression.

Learning activities kickoff this summer, at both our Chatsworth and West Hills campuses, for students who will be in 1st through 12th grade during the 2013-2014 school year. Students looking to improve their reading and writing skills, experiment with their science and performing arts talents, or sharpen their athletic fundamentals will all find a place at Chaminade this summer. In addition, students can take advantage of special summer experiences such as the Costa Rica Sea Turtle Preservation Field Experience, Mock Trial Camp, History Through Art at The Getty Villa, and a Los Angeles Audubon Ecology field trip.

Offerings at the High School campus in West Hills focus on our phenomenal visual and performing arts programs and our championship athletic teams. Each week, students can choose from sports camps and summer intensives in musical theater, dance, film, stagecraft, and music.

Programs on the Middle School campus center around the innovative and student-centered Great Books Academy. The Great Books Summer Academy offers two sessions on the Chatsworth campus: Session 1 is from June 10 to June 26, 2013 and Session 2 is from July 1 to July 19, 2013. All students will have a Great Books class as the anchor to their schedules and have an opportunity to choose three electives classes from science experiments to drawing and painting. This is an enrichment program designed for students in a college preparatory environment. It is rigorous, engaging and student-centered. Both Chaminade students and guests are welcome to enroll. Please see our entire course offering, and check back for what’s coming in the fall and winter at www.chamiande.org.

Great Books Summer Academy makes a great debut at the Middle School

By Kelley Stone, Director of Summer Programs

The inaugural session of the Chaminade Great Books Summer Academy is getting great reviews from parents and kids for providing a fun and academically enriching summer program for students in grades 2-8.  Over 150 students from schools all over the San Fernando Valley have come together on the Middle School campus to experience the Great Books curriculum and enjoy enrichment classes from music to math to martial arts.

Developed at the University of Chicago, The Great Books program is a superb framework for teaching reading comprehension, critical thinking, vocabulary, and writing, all in the context of students sharing ideas about great literature. Through the use of Shared Inquiry™, students are exploring themes of lasting significance, centered on the Western tradition but reaching beyond, always with a compelling interest in the roots of democracy and the challenges of the just society.   Shared Inquiry™ is a research-proven combination of rich texts and active, collaborative problem-solving that increases achievement in reading comprehension, critical thinking, and communication skills. The Great Books Academy is transforming “talk” into powerful, focused discussions.

Space is still available for session 2 beginning on July 9th!  To see a complete course catalog and register go to summer.chaminade.org.