Westmont Magazine Summer Scholars and Student Scholarships

Summer Scholars Study for Credit
About a dozen college-bound high school juniors and seniors are participating in a new Westmont program this summer that offers a genuine, residential college experience. Summer Scholars, which runs from June 19 to July 16, provides students with two college courses worth eight units of college credit.

“There are other ways to earn college credit in high school, AP classes, or community college classes offered at a student’s high school,” says Chris Hoeckley, director of the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts at Westmont, which oversees the program. “But those options don’t offer the full college experience of living with your fellow students and developing close relationships with professors.”

Up to 18 students were selected for their ability to succeed in an intensive, college-level academic program. Each course is team-taught and interdisciplinary, addressing real-world, cutting-edge issues such as the culture and politics of the Middle East and the frontier of human thought and computing. Six Westmont professors will teach the two courses, “The Middle East in Story and History” and “Minds, Machines and Zombies.”

Hoeckley hopes the program introduces students to an education that integrates their learning with their faith. “The course topics intersect significantly with commitments that grow out of students’ religious faith,” he says. “The program is an opportunity for Westmont to offer its unique, Christian, liberal arts education to those still exploring their college options, while allowing the college to extend its mission to those who might otherwise not benefit from it.”

Scholarship Honors Bob Wennberg
The legacy of Bob Wennberg, who invested 35 years in teaching philosophy at Westmont, will endure in the lives of those who studied with him. New generations of students will benefit as well with the establishment of an endowed scholarship that will assist philosophy students. To date, the college has received more than $15,000 from his students, colleagues and friends toward the $50,000 goal.

Jim Taylor, a longtime Westmont philosophy professor himself and former Wennberg student, recalls Bob’s gentle and gracious guidance. “His winsome personality and wise and witty lectures contributed to my decision to major in philosophy and eventually earn a doctorate and become a professor,” Taylor says.

To contribute to this scholarship, please go to www.westmont.edu/giving