Do you sometimes feel that your ideas are better than your papers? If so, spend time this summer improving your academic writing - in all subjects.

This course is for incoming 9th grade thru 12th grade students. It is designed to help students define a clear thesis and organize evidence to support it. You will practice structuring logical paragraphs, draw convincing connections between them, and building to a strong, emphatic conclusion. And you will learn to avoid errors in usage and punctuation that can detract from your good arguments.

Through frequent writing exercises, this course helps students increase their abilities to compose sentences and develop paragraphs, and improve overall writing skills. Students will enter into the group exercise of creating an original chaptered novel.

This three-week course is designed for juniors who have successfully completed 513/613 math and wish to take calculus their senior year. There are a few prerequisite topics which are necessary before calculus. This course will provide the necessary exposure to these topics.

This course is intended for students who wish to move from Freshman Curriculum I Math to Sophomore Honors level Mathematics. The course will be an intensive study of quadratic function and other related functions. Prerequisite: A in 511 at Newton North and A in 611 at Newton South and department head approval.

Organizing, note taking, outlining, memorizing, and testing are some of the skills covered in this three-week course. Students learn how to understand their own learning styles and develop personal study habits to improve academic performance.

This four-week course investigates the amazing adaptations of representative marine organisms, and the physical and chemical characteristics of their environment. It explores the potential resources of our seas, as well as the threats posed by pollution. This introduction to marine biology stresses experiential hands-on learning and field experiences. In addition to regular class time there will be four all day field trips.

• Physical, chemical and biological oceanographic analysis of Massachusetts Bay aboard a UMASS research vessel.

• Exploration and analysis of the rocky inter-tidal ecosystem in Cape Ann, Gloucester at Halibut Point State Park.

• Shorebird ecology and soft sediment habitat assessment at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and Sandy Point Reservation, Plum Island, MA.

• Salt Marsh Ecology and Restoration at Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Falmouth, MA.