BASS is both an intensive, credit-granting school and an exciting and fun adventure recreation camp for co-ed, American & international, students ages 12-18.

Brewster Academy is located in the picture-perfect village of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, a safe and cozy summer resort, where the days are warm, the nights are cool, and the scenery and outdoor recreation are unmatched.

We are proud of BASS (Brewster Academy Summer Session). Our students tell us that our approaches to education are different and rewarding beyond their expectations. Why? Well, first, because we balance serious academic work with a fun-filled, outdoor summer adventure camp and, second, because the kids feel respected and nurtured and smart.

Also, each student is provided with a Macintosh laptop for the duration of the program. Access to the internet and email is available everywhere on campus. Students like that too. But there’s much more to our story…

We are a small school/camp. We limit our enrollment to 60 because we want to know every student as well as possible. Our staff member: student ratio is 1: 2 and everyone is trained in an affective approach to teaching and learning where attitude, feelings, and respect are emphasized in every relationship.

What do we promise our students? First, we’ll teach them a full year’s skills course in English (reading, writing, and critical thinking), or math (one of three levels of algebra, or geometry), or ESL (beginner to advanced), depending on which course they choose to major in.  We offer a year's credit to those who demonstrate mastery.

Second, we see BASS as offering kids an important opportunity to learn more about themselves. We intend that our academic practices expose kids to self-knowledge about how they learn best and that our adventure recreation courses reinforce that exposure.

Afternoons and Saturdays are dedicated to recreation and adventure skills building activities including rock climbing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking and camping, art, and field sports.

In fact, everything we do reinforces learning. In addition to language or math skills, kids learn responsibility. They also learn team building, problem solving, and critical thinking skills in the classrooms, on the water, in the mountains, on the busses, in the dining hall, but especially in the dorms. There, they live side-by-side with carefully selected, high-quality university graduates who function as dorm parents, mentors, teaching assistants, and adventure recreation instructors.