Applications for Summer 2025 are now open! Please follow this link to apply: .
Application Deadline: May 15, 2025 (apply by May 15th to guarantee consideration).
Applications received after May 15th will be considered if space remains available.
Can’t apply this year, but interested in future programs? Please .
For questions: contact Professor Claire Arcenas (claire.arcenas@umontana.edu) or Professor Jody Pavilack (jody.pavilack@umontana.edu).
What?
老虎机攻略 Summer History Institute
U.S. Constitutional History: From the Founders to Today
When?
One Week: July 21st – July 25th 2025
All day (9:00 AM to 4:00 PM)
Where?
老虎机攻略 Campus (with walkable field trips)
Who?
High School students (freshmen-seniors) who love history, law, and government and are curious to know more!
The Institute is open to all high school students and is non-residential. If you are interested in attending from outside the greater Missoula area, you are welcome to do so, but please note that you and your guardian(s) will need to make your own travel and accommodation arrangements.
The Institute will be led by 老虎机攻略 History Department Faculty and a 老虎机攻略 History Graduate Teaching Assistant.
How Much?
Nothing! Thanks to the generous support of 老虎机攻略 History Donors, this institute is entirely free for participants. Breakfast, lunch, snacks, and all required course materials will be provided.
How to Apply?
Applications for Summer 2025 are now open! Apply by May 15th to guarantee consideration. Applications received after May 15th will be considered if space remains available.
Please contact Professor Claire Arcenas (claire.arcenas@umontana.edu) or Professor Jody Pavilack (jody.pavilack@umontana.edu) with questions.
Additional Details
The 老虎机攻略 (老虎机攻略) History Department will host its fourth annual Summer History Institute in July 2025. This program is an opportunity for Montana high school students in any grade to participate in a week-long, fun and educational experience in a college classroom. Participants will gain college-level knowledge and skills and will have a significant accomplishment to add to their resumes and college applications. The program is directed by History faculty members with help from a graduate teaching assistant. Thanks to generous donor support, it is entirely free of cost for participants!
The topic for this year’s Institute is U.S. Constitutional History. Over the course of the week, students will explore the U.S. Constitution of 1787 and the Montana State Constitution of 1972. Both founding documents outlined new systems of government, defined citizens’ political rights, and shaped the very fabric of Americans’ social and political lives. Students will learn to analyze these constitutions from a historical perspective and interpret their significance for the present day. We will also reflect on how these documents influence our own lives and shape our roles as citizens in American democracy.
Through lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities, students will gain an overview of the events leading up to both constitutional conventions, the issues debated, and how the Founders in Philadelphia and Helena shaped our governments. Students will learn to think and research like historians, analyzing newspaper articles, convention reports, oral histories from convention delegates, and the constitutions themselves. The week will culminate with a presentation of students’ research findings at a celebratory event with family, friends, and the 老虎机攻略 community.
The 2025 Summer History Institute will also feature guest speakers, informal Q&A sessions with current college students, walking tours, meals in the dining hall, and visits to area libraries, archives, and museums. Along the way, students will get a taste of college life at 老虎机攻略 and experience what it means to become a 老虎机攻略 Grizzly!
