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Dear Families,
As you receive this March newsletter we are winding down in preparation for Spring Break. We are excited for our students to take a break and reconnect with their families, friends, and homes. While life on campus is truly amazing, a true home away from home with exhilarating academic challenges and engaging co-curricular and recreational activities - it is so very important for students to recenter themselves in who they are and where they come from, to reconnect with their origins and reflect on their learning and growth. For day students and boarding students alike, Spring Break is a chance to reflect, rest, and set goals towards a successful finish of the school year!
We strongly encourage parents to engage in meaningful conversations with your students about 4th quarter goals. This encouragement and connection between school and home will help our students find even greater success and happiness as they finish the school year. Ask questions broadly about academic goals, leadership goals, engagement goals with clubs, sports, and activities, friendship and relationship goals, and more! The more holistically you support your student’s reflections and goal-setting, the more they will embrace and understand that a well-rounded high school experience is important. Enjoy these meaningful chats, which will be great precursors to the upcoming Family/Advisor conferences on April 1!
In this newsletter, we are excited to introduce you to a new format. You can now look forward to a three-part monthly newsletter in the months ahead that includes:
An introduction from me,
A letter from a featured author, and
A (new!) “Happenings on Campus” section that highlights key events from the previous month and links back to our social media spaces where you can keep up with events in real time.
To conclude my introduction I am pleased to share next year’s academic calendar for your planning purposes and to introduce our featured author.
Next year we have made some subtle adjustments to the calendar around our arrival and departure days in order to add 5 instructional days to the school year. We are pleased to be able to increase students’ deep engagement with their subjects and their preparation time for any AP exams that they elect to take. The Academic Calendar for 2025-2026 is linked here and dates of note for travel, arrival, and orientation purposes include:
August 20 is Arrival Day for all Boarding Students
August 21 will be Parent Orientation Day for all parents, of both boarding and day students. Parent Orientation Day is designed not just for new parents, but as a launch to the year for ALL parents. NOTE: Boarding students will participate in boarding-related orientation activities on this day.
August 22 will be Student Orientation for all students, boarding and day. Student Orientation Day is designed not just for new students, but as a mandatory launch to the year for ALL students.
August 23-24 will include mandatory grade level events for ALL students.
August 25 is the first day of class.
December 12 is the last day of class before winter break.
December 12 & 13 are departure/travel days for boarding students.
January 7 is Arrival Day for all Boarding Students.
January 8 is the first day of class.
March 6 is the last day of class before spring break.
March 6 & 7 are departure/travel days for boarding students.
March 24 is Arrival Day for all Boarding Students.
March 25 is the first day of class.
May 16 is Graduation day and departure day for Grade 12 students
May 22 is the final day of the school year for Grades 9-11
May 22 & 23 are departure/travel days for Grade 9-11 boarding students.
We respectfully request that you align to the arrival and departure dates in bold above, as supporting arrivals and departures outside of those dates presents challenges for both the students and for campus operations.
I want to close by introducing Jeff Robinette, our Summer School Administrator and featured author this month. Please read below to learn about the exciting offerings available for our second summer of EF Academy Online Summer School. Jeff did a brilliant job leading the launch of the program last year, and the 36 participating students have raved about their experiences! We hope you will give thoughtful consideration to the benefits of joining summer school in Summer 2025!
That is all from me this month! Have a wonderful month reconnecting with your children. We will miss them and look forward to welcoming boarders back on March 25 and resuming classes on March 26!
With appreciation,
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Dr. Sally Mingarelli
Head of School, EF Academy Pasadena
Co-author note:
Hi EF Academy Families –
We are thrilled to announce that registration for EF Academy Summer School is now open! For information on what course(s) would be appropriate for your child, please contact their University & Academic Counselor who could make a recommendation.
What is Summer School?
Designed with the unique needs of our international student body and taught by our own faculty, EF Academy Summer School courses offer a rigorous online classroom that can be accessed anywhere in the world with reliable internet. Instruction will be delivered asynchronously and managed through Canvas to organize content and facilitate student interaction across multiple time zones. Our teachers will facilitate synchronous 1-on-1 check-ins with students, organize study groups and question and answer sessions among students. Summer School classes will have the feel of an online college course.
Why should I consider Summer School?
Accelerate access to AP and Advanced Studies courses. Students can complete pre-requisite course work in summer school which will allow students access to our advanced course offerings one full year in advance of when they would otherwise be eligible to enroll.
Complete missing graduation or college admissions requirements. Some students who join EF Academy after their 9th grade year sometimes are missing a course requirement that must be completed before they graduate. These courses can be completed through summer school, allowing their schedule during the academic year to follow a normal course of study.
Increase flexibility and open room for elective courses. By taking semester long courses (such as Health & Wellness) in summer school, a student’s schedule during the academic year can accommodate an extra year-long course of their choice.
Alleviate the stress of college admissions. Rising seniors can work 1-on-1 with our UAC team to complete their college admissions essay through summer school while they are free of the burden of a full academic course load. With their essay complete prior to arriving on campus their senior year, they can dedicate that time and focus on their core course work.
What courses are available?
Courses offered fall into one of two categories: credit-earning courses that count toward graduation progress (students receive a grade and academic credit on their transcript); and enrichment courses which are not graded and do not count toward graduation progress.
Each credit-earning course is an intensive 6-week course of study equivalent to 1-year of learning and aligns to EF Academy Pasadena’s CBL and PBL frameworks and best practices. Due to the intensive nature of these courses, students may take a maximum of 1 credit-earning course at a time. AP, Advanced Studies, and lab-based courses are not offered in summer school sessions. All credit-earning courses mirror courses offered in the regular academic year.
Credit Earning Courses
6-weeks: June 9 – July 18
$2,600 (except for Health, $1,300)
History
Modern World History
US History
Health
Foundations of Health and Wellness (9/10, 1 semester credit, 3-week duration)
June 9 – June 27
Comprehensive Dimensions of Health (11/12, 1 semester credit, 3-week duration)
June 30 – July 18
English
English 10
Math
Integrated Math 1
Integrated Math 2
Integrated Math 3
World Language
Spanish 2
Spanish 3
Spanish 4
French 1
Mandarin 3
Enrichment courses are designed to complement the EF Academy experience and develop student skills and interests that may fall outside of the core academic requirements for graduation.
Enrichment Courses
2-week duration (June 9 – 20, June 23 – July 4, and July 7 – 18)
$1,250 per 2-week course
College Application Essay Writing (Common App)
College Application Essay Writing (PIQs)
1-week duration (June 2 – 8)
Finding Success in Online Learning ($625)
Intro to Comptency Based Learning (requirement for new students, no cost)
If you would like more information or to start the registration process, please contact your student's University & Academic Counselor.
We are looking forward to seeing you this summer.
Best,
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Jeff Robinette
Summer School Administrator
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