Summer for Success Empowers Students Who Learn Differently for College Success
By Loraine O’Connell
For Olivia Sukhia, being in a crowd was an ordeal.
“I’d just freeze and panic when there were a lot of people around me,” says the 17-year-old student from Westchester County, N.Y., who has been diagnosed with ADHD.
After participating in Beacon College’s Summer for Success program for two years, she’s more relaxed.
“My confidence improved,” she says. “It’s the friends I’ve made here and some of the more structured activities we have, and the weekend trips too. I feel like I can navigate hordes of crowds better than what I used to be able to do.”
Self-confidence is just one of the benefits that neurodivergent students gain by attending Summer for Success, the college’s pioneering summer college immersion experience for high school students with learning and attention issues, says Brody Glidden, associate dean of admissions and summer programs.
Photo: Summer for Success students participate in a studio art project.
For students with learning disabilities, “it’s all about introducing students to college realities in a low-risk environment,” he says. “There’s no credit, no GPA. This is all experiential learning. Our summer program is low risk, high reward.”
Since 2015, when Summer for Success began with 30 students, he says, the program has grown to 150 students in 2025, including students from 26 states, the Philippines and Jordan. The three-week program offers three tracks: Exploration, Imagination and Illumination. Each track consists of courses specific to it plus electives that students can choose from the other two tracks.
“They all get writing, reading, critical thinking and collaboration” skills, Glidden says. But those skills are taught “in the concept theme of the track.”
For instance, the Imagination Track explores the history of The Walt Disney Company, including visits to the four Orlando theme parks and Hollywood Studios.
“They’re fun things, and that’s what gets the students motivated to do the academic tasks that we ask of them,” says Samantha Owens, a learning specialist who also teaches several Summer for Success classes. In the Exploration Track, she teaches Creative Writing Through Dungeons and Dragons.
“I use that to be able to get students to do things they might not otherwise be willing to do academically,” she says, “to write stories that are pages long, to go into descriptive detail on how a character feels and reacts.”
Each track’s cost is all-inclusive: tuition, room and board, materials, transportation and weekend off-campus activities. Costs range from $5,450 to $7,500. Summer for Success students live on campus in residence halls where dorm life can be a revelation.
That’s been the case for Lily Hardebaugh, an only child from Waterford, Virginia.
In her two-bathroom dorm, “I have four roommates,” says Hardebaugh, 17. “I’m so used to my own little routine; now I’m having to navigate not being able to take a shower when I want to because someone else is. This is a new adjustment because I’m not used to having siblings to share stuff with.”
But Hardebaugh echoes a sentiment expressed by many Summer for Success students when comparing their high school to Beacon.
“A lot of my friends don’t have dyslexia or ADHD, so they can’t really relate to me,” she says. But Summer for Success, “where there are people I can relate to, is a little easier.”
—Lily Hardebaugh
At the end of the three weeks, parents receive a report on their student’s readiness for college.
“Parents rely on us to give that feedback,” Glidden says. “All of the staff and faculty are submitting daily reports,” and parents receive an in-depth evaluation.
Owens notes that many students tell her they don’t want to leave. “They’ve created new friendships, and they’re learning new and fun skills. They’re really growing in an environment that accepts them for who they are.”
Students like Seeger Perry, for example. The 17-year-old from San Diego says he and his roommates agreed to support each other because “there aren’t too many programs and colleges that have this kind of benefit for kids like us.
“We’re on the spectrum and everything, so we all agreed we’d work together, push each other…We all want to do well. Some of us want to come back” for our bachelor’s degrees.
—Seeger Perry
30
Students in 2015
150
Students in 2025
3
Tracks (Exploration, Imagination, Illumination)
26
States