At the beginning of July this past summer, while most Groton students were busy with summer fun and pushing off summer reading until August, a sizeable group of rising Fourth Formers returned to the campus to participate in the first summer of the GRACE program. Devised largely by the program director Mr. Prockop in collaboration with other faculty members, the Groton Accelerate Challenge Enrich (GRACE) program was intended to accomplish exactly what its name suggests: to help rising sophomores prepare for the onslaught of difficult courses that accompany the Fourth Form year.
While many students, including myself, were initially incredulous that anybody would attend what was essentially “voluntary summer school,” we were clearly wrong given the participation of over a quarter of last year’s 3rd formers.
Although I was initially critical of the effectiveness and intention of the program, after talking with my younger brother, Gus Vrattos ‘18, who attended the program, I have realized that the program actually makes a lot of sense.
Second and Third Form are often described as years for developing good work habits and skills in preparation for the trials of Upper School life. However, the combination of a new social environment and increased freedom compounded with the academic challenges of Fourth Form can be overwhelming for rising sophomores, who are expected to immediately acclimatize to their new surroundings. The overall goal of the GRACE program is to eliminate some of the stress of adjusting to Upper School by ensuring that students are well-prepared for the difficult classes they will be taking. As better described by the Groton website, “GRACE promotes flexibility within the Groton curriculum and ensures that every student reaches his or her full potential in the subjects of math, chemistry, English, and Latin.” For some students, that may mean doing extra work to solidify the foundations of these subjects that they studied in the previous year. For others, GRACE offers an opportunity to accelerate students into more advanced courses.
One common criticism that many students and I originally had with the program is that it seemed to be pushing large numbers of Third Formers to take more advanced classes, increasing the competition in Groton’s already highly competitive environment.
What I have come to realize, however, is that the growing number of ambitious Third Formers who plan on skipping ahead in the curriculum is not an outcome of GRACE, but rather a trend that the program seeks to encourage, yet regulate. In recent years, many young freshmen, including myself, have begun to skip levels in science, math, and language classes. Unlike me, however, my brother has already studied nuclear chemistry, stoichiometry, rate laws, and much more of his chemistry curriculum and will be far better prepared for the advanced class he will takw this year.
While the students enrolled in the program do work very hard and even have homework, the program does leave the students with enough out-of-class time to enjoy their summer as well as participate in organized activities. Off campus trips are scheduled regularly ranging from bowling to whitewater rafting to indoor skydiving. Although the program is a rigorous and unusual way to spend one’s summer vacation, my brother’s positive review suggests that the participating students had time to enjoy themselves and relax over the course of GRACE.
Although I was critical of GRACE when it was first unveiled, the summer program has shown that it can provide a fun way for rising sophomores to receive the preparation that they need in order to succeed during the challenging year that awaits them in Fourth Form. The program has clearly been a huge success this past summer, and hopefully it will continue to serve as a helpful resource for many rising Fourth Formers in years to come.