College of William & Mary: Ziv Carmi

Ziv Carmi spent part of a summer at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Why did you decide to participate in a high school summer program?

I chose to travel from my home in Southern California to participate in The College of William and Mary: Pre-College Summer Program in Early American History because I wanted to learn more about something that I loved and because I didn't want to get bored doing nothing at home.

What made you pick William & Mary?

IIt looked exactly like something I would love – it had history, museums, and lots and lots of knowledge. It also gave me the opportunity to earn 4 college credits!

What was a typical day like in your program?

I decided to take History 218: From the American Revolution through the American Civil War. A typical morning included waking up fairly early, going over to the Sadler Center for breakfast, getting in a van for the day’s trip to a historic site or museum, going on a tour of the site or museum, and heading back to William & Mary for lunch. After eating lunch, we headed to meet with our seminar group for a discussion about the day's site visit and the readings for the day. Each seminar group has 10 to 12 students so it is easy to participate in the discussion. Evening events included English Country Dancing lessons, studying in our rooms, going to Colonial Williamsburg, or hearing a guest speaker such as the Colonial Williamsburg interpreter who portrays President Thomas Jefferson.

On our first weekend, we traveled to the Fairfield Foundation’s Center for Archaeology, Preservation, and Education where we worked with archaeologists to learn how to wash and identify artifacts excavated at Fairfield, a 17th-century plantation site. The next weekend we traveled to Fairfield and got to excavate at this site. It was an amazing experience to learn to use a trowel and find artifacts at an active archaeological site!

What was the most memorable part of your program?

By far the most memorable moment of my summer was one of the last days of the program, where several kids and I were walking from Sadler, and it began to rain. Soaked, we all stood outside of the dorms for several hours, just dancing, and singing in the rain.

Other memorable moments include leading my team to victory in the program's version of “Jeopardy!” at the end of the program, and just being accepted by other people with similar interests.

What advice do you have for teen considering summer programs?

As for advice I have for other teens, I think that anyone with a love of history should consider William & Mary, and, most importantly, just stop and enjoy every minute of your summer program, because it goes by SO QUICKLY!