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Our mission: Dawson School is dedicated to excellence of mind, body, and character. We prepare students, through challenging and relevant learning, to become creative, resilient problem-solvers who bring their best to the world.

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Dawson Summer Initiative

Five-Week Thematic Session June 9-July 9, 2021

For Summer 2021, our theme is Global Balance: The Art of Managing Change. How can we, as world citizens, bring our collective experience into balance in such areas as climate, hunger, advances in technology, wealth, finance, access to clean water and a host of other challenges through creative ways of managing the change we are, and will be, experiencing on our planet and in our communities?

Do we want to be proactive and avoid change, or do we want to enact and promote future change? Finding creative solutions goes well beyond identifying challenges. It involves a broad thinking approach seeking innovative solutions within our complex world.

FIVE-WEEK PROGRAM DATES: JUNE 9 - JULY 9, 2021

Program Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Coronavirus Information: Our goal is to be 100% in-person this coming summer. However, this past June, we offered a shorter, successful online program and will do so this coming summer, if necessary.

Thank you for your interest in DSI.

The application process for Summer 2021 has now ended.

A Typical Day

CLICK HERE to see 'A Day in the Life of DSI' video created by 2017 scholars.

The program runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m, Monday through Friday. While there is no assigned homework, many students enjoy discussing, researching, and further exploring the themes of the day from home.

Weeks 1 & 2:

Engage in thoughtful discussions with guest speakers/experts in the field
Work within a single discipline: Inquiry, Analysis, or Communication with an instructor and peers to develop skills for project development
Learn the ins and outs of video production and Photoshop
Participate in daily physical activity, enjoying the outdoors and moving around

Weeks 3-5:

Re-group into multi-disciplinary project teams
Identify and create projects that examine authentic solutions to local, national, and global challenges

In prior summers, scholars explored the following themes:
2020: One Planet: Design Our Future
2019: Adapt: Thriving Through Change
2018: Information: Possibilities & Pitfalls
2017: Fresh Start: Re-Imagining How We Live
2016: Innovation & Impact: Change Through Creativity
2015: On the Move: Transportation, Globalization, Innovation

2014: Exploring the Digital Revolution

2013: Climate: Vital Signs of the Planet

2012: Food: Feeding Ourselves and the World

2011: Energy: Science, Society and the Powering of Our Planet

2010: Epidemic: Past and Present

2009: Water (at Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain, Las Vegas)