Most students spend their summer hanging out with their friends, family, working, and even traveling, but junior Sadie Chaney spent her summer looking toward her future and preparing for college.

Chaney spent three enjoyable weeks at the University of Miami enrolled in the Summer Scholars Program. This program is held to give students the opportunity to get the college feel for the first time and experience more college leveled classes. During her time there, Chaney took two college credit classes: Intro to Neurodiversity and Intro to Music Therapy.

Other than getting the college class experience, she also got a feel for college life. During her three weeks, she stayed in a University of Miami dorm, had a roommate, and got a good introduction to living in college and away from home. “I liked having a roommate and being able to spend my time in the dorms because it gave me a good representation of what college will be like,” Chaney said. “I was very satisfied with the classes I chose to take.” 

While learning, she also had the opportunity to meet new people and friends that she will have for a very long time. Chaney recognized how diverse the students were at the camp and found enjoyment in being able to learn about new people in a new environment. “It was a really cool experience and I would love to do something like it next summer,” Chaney said.

After living near Miami when she was young, this opportunity really made her realize how much she loved Miami and how honored she would be to attend her years of college there. Her biggest takeaway from this experience was how cool it is to meet new people that are maybe very different from yourself. 

“After this camp, I realized that I wanna go to college somewhere that has a bunch of diversity and different people and cultures,” Chaney said.