National History Academy Online (NHAO) is a unique college prep summer experience for rising 10th, 11th, and 12th-grade high school students and recent high school graduates with an interest in civics, civil discourse, and the history of the United States.
NHAO offers an inspiring and engaging learning environment. The theme for this summer is voting, with the first week spent doing a deep dive into the Electoral College. For three other weeks, you will immerse yourself in cases developed by Harvard Business School Professor David Moss’s Case Method Institute, delving deeply into major themes of American history with direct relevance with current events. This summer’s cases focus on The Right of Revolution for the Disenfranchised, How Voting Methods Impact Democracy, and Redistricting.
In this program, you will participate in rich discussions with other engaged students about these significant periods and events in American history and tie them to the struggles we’re facing now.
The programs will run for one week each, 8:00 to 9:30 PM EDT Monday through Thursday. Each week, you will spend time in small online classes with students from around the country and globe, led by top high school history teachers. You will spend three days working through the material and cases then will participate in a Braver Angels debate which is designed to facilitate open, frank and respectful discussion of topics with strong tie-ins to each week’s material.
National History Academy Online builds on the success of our ground-breaking residential program, which has brought students together from all around the country for the summer to study the foundations of our American Democracy. Academy students have come from all 50 states and 20 countries and gone on to top colleges, including Yale, Penn, Ohio State, West Point, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Williams, Florida, Bowdoin, Rice, Texas, Washington University, Ole Miss, Michigan, and USC.
Comprehensive Curriculum
Our curriculum challenges you to participate and interact with fellow students and explore historic places virtually. Curriculum components include:
The Case Method of Learning
Photo Credits:
- Mount Vernon photo by Thalia Romero via Wikimedia Commons
- Ebenezer Baptist Church Horizon Sanctuary photo by Michael Barera via Wikimedia Commons
- Martin Luther King’s Boyhood Home photo by Mike Fairbanks via Wikimedia Commons
- Wesleyan Methodist Church, Seneca_Falls, NY photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel via Wikimdedia Commons
