Goodbye Hometown...Hello ASP

By ANDREW KNIGHTON

Students have mixed feelings about their transition of moving from home to the Advanced Studies Program (ASP) at St. Paul’s School. The students are enrolled in a five and a half week program requires them to eat, sleep and study at the St. Paul’s School. Over the course of this program students are only allowed specific times where they can leave campus.

The Advanced Mathematics students are struggling with their workload because of the “stressful problems, and the lack of sleep due to the length of their problems,” Pat Pike said, a student in Advanced Mathematics.  This is the first summer for most in which they are enrolled in an advanced studies program is a new challenge because they are entering a new atmosphere where most of the students here are top of their classes. They have to give up their part of their summer to study a subject in an intense fashion.

“It is completely different from what I’m used to, I didn’t get four hours of sleep during the school year and especially in the summer. This is a totally new atmosphere for me,” Pike said. Pike is top of his class in his school in Gorham and he feels, “a little intimidated by how smart some of these kids are here at the ASP.” 

It is tough for students to accommodate themselves to these new study habits. Most are not used to studying for three hours or more a night, it’s either easy for them or the teachers don’t assign as much work. They get to live away from home for over five weeks but they are actively involved in an intense program which requires more effort and time then they might have expected. “This is a new challenge,” said Megan Deschaine, a student in Introduction to Japanese. “It is a challenge that I can’t wait to face,” Deschaine stated. She has never taken Japanese before so she is only learning the basics at the time. Deschaine is really enjoying learning something totally new.

“This is an adjustment from my life at home. It has been difficult because I have never been away for this long,” Deschaine said.

As students move through this program, some students may become homesick and Michael Ricard, director of the ASP, said “That first (he) relies on the interns to try to help them through their time because they have the most face time with the students. They might need a little tender, love and care.” He also looks to the house supervisor to help the interns. “Some students just simply don’t transition well and this is the longest that they have ever been away from home,” Ricard said. As the director of the Advance Studies Program, he knows that there are some students that are different from others and need a little extra support.

“The advice I would give to the prospective students that are interest in the ASP would be that the ASP is a very supportive environment,” Ricard said. “If these kids plan on attending college,” said Ricard, “this is a little taste of what college is going to be like. You get to see how you can handle leaving home not being with your family.” Here at the ASP, everyone wants you to succeed. The teachers, interns and other students challenge you to your top capabilities.

“The transition here was fairly easy, leaving home was different, but I found it easier than I thought it would be,” said Carol Hall, a student in The Quest. Hall found the time to still talk to her family but, “the workload is larger for one specific class, but similar to an entire day of different classes and their workloads.” Hall is very excited that she got to come to such a wonderful program. She loves to be challenged and she loves to work hard to reach her ultimate goal in life, which is to be successful.

Transitions can be a hard thing for some people. They might become home sick or miss their friends. Thankfully the staff on board at the ASP is very supportive and you can go talk to them about anything. This transition to the ASP is a great experience because you will never, in high school, get a chance where you are studying with everyone that is just as smart as you or even smarter. They challenge you to become the best student you can be.