Together We Rise!
Every summer, MASP invites highly motivated incoming freshmen from traditionally underrepresented groups and/or who are first-generation college students to its summer Program for Excellence in Academics and Community (PEAC), a rigorous academic program focusing on intensive university-level material and giving students an opportunity to form a strong community that will serve them during their freshman year and beyond. PEAC students have impressive high school credentials and are among the top students in their schools.
Starting in summer 2015, we increased the size of PEAC cohorts to about 40 students per year. This year we had a record 160 applicants for PEAC and accepted a cohort of 43 students! Ten current MASP students served as PEAC mentors (replacing the role of RA and TA); each mentor lived in the dorm and took classes along with the PEAC students during the four weeks of the program.
As always, PEAC stresses community building, and in addition to many on-campus community-building activities, we provided the new cohort with a host of engaging programming including the CU Challenge Course, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, white water rafting, and hiking at Eldorado Canyon State Park. These fun activities complemented our course programming to create the intense academic and social experience that makes PEAC so effective. The updated curriculum provides students a true liberal arts experience that allows them to explore different fields inside and outside the classroom. Our courses this summer included Neuroscience of Learning, Statistical Methods, Writing: Vision and Voice, Critical Perspectives in Popular Culture and Race and Ethnicity in Latin America.
This year, in addition to five formal classes, PEAC students also participated in several immersive enrichment activities. Students toured the Denver Art Museum’s distinguished exhibit Mi Tierra, performed a guided exoplanet lab with the Astrophysics department, and even participated in a theatre workshop on the Taming of the Shrew. Lastly, all PEAC students took a (non-graded) course called CU 101: The Hidden Curriculum. This class introduces students to the ins and outs of undergrad and guides students to success at CU.