EIU Pine Honors College

Of Kings & Catapults

THE PINE HONORS COLLEGE SUMMER ACADEMY, JULY 14-19, 2019

            Step into the mythic past with the Pine Honors College’s Arthurian Summer Experience. This residential camp style program explores the origins and subsequent transformations of an enduring legendary figure, King Arthur of Britain. Join us for a stimulating week of discussions, film screenings and hands on learning activities.  We’ll dip into essential Arthurian texts from different centuries, analyze a couple of modern film adaptations and have a crack at playing a classic Arthurian RPG. There will be opportunities to make your own medieval style manuscript, build a model trebuchet, simulate a twelfth century chivalric court and share stories, troubadour style, over a campfire feast. You will learn a lot and have some pretty unusual fun in the process. Best of all, when your friends ask “How was your summer?” you’ll be able to say, in all honesty, “It was epic”.

What’s the Honors Summer Academy?

The Pine Honors College offers an intensive summer camp/ course hybrid, giving you the chance to experience a university level honors class environment combined with hands on activities to intensify and enhance your learning.  It is a non-credit course experience designed for for high school students who have a love of learning and a desire to expand their minds. No expertise on the topic is required or assumed, but you should come willing to learn and to participate! Students should have a high school GPA of at least 3 on a 4 point scale. You will not only gain knowledge about Arthurian legend and medieval history but also learn how to think critically about the relationships between myth, fact, and culture.

 Your Camp Staff

The Honors summer academy will be led by Dr. Richard England, Dean of the Pine Honors College, and a historian of science and technology, and Dr. Charlotte England, an expert on Middle English Arthurian texts. Your camp counselors will be current EIU Honors students who will help you in the many activities of the program..

Your Typical Day at Camp

Camp activities will connect classroom discussions with hands-on projects, culminating in the building of a working scale model of a traction trebuchet. Activities might include...

Discussing Celtic legends  and history

Learning about the military and political history of medieval Britain

Connecting ancient and modern myths

Making your own medieval manuscript

Building and experimenting with model siege engines

Re-enacting a mock “court of chivalry”

Enjoying performances around a campfire…

A Provisional Schedule for the Summer Academy is linked here

To apply, fill in the form linked here.

When your application is accepted, you will be contacted about registering online.

Registration

Activities, supervision, instruction, housing and food are provided for the registration fee of $369. You will stay in student residence halls and enjoy cafeteria style dining for most meals. You will arrive on Sunday afternoon on July 14 and depart on Friday afternoon on July 19, at around 4 pm. Students who live locally can choose to commute and participate daily, for a registration fee of $279. Cancellations can be made by June 24 for a full refund less the $40 deposit. After June 24^th refunds cannot be made.

Payment Details will follow soon at this website.

More Information?

About Charleston, Illinois

About the Pine Honors College at Eastern Illinois University

About King Arthur!

About anything else! E-mail or call Dr. Richard England (217-581-2017)