TLU - Texas Lutheran University

Explores how psychological knowledge can assist in understanding, evaluating, and shaping one's personal experience and relationships with others.  Students will participate in hands-on activities that are meant to help them use psychology to make positive changes in their future.  There will be a special focus on improving creativity, motivational, and cognitive skills. 

Printmaking is Culture: Comics to Graffiti to Painting will develop skills in the fundamentals of printmaking through the exploration of several printing processes. You will incorporate drawing or digital imagery to create projects that develop their personal style. Through individual and group discussion, you will analyze and critique each other’s prints as a resource for learning, expression and inspiration.

Tell your story with Windows Live Movie Maker will teach you to make movies. Back in the day, Steven Spielberg was about your age when he made his first amateur movies with an 8 millimeter camera. Today we bring our own stories to life using the latest in digital technologies. In this course you will learn to express yourself with Windows Live Movie Maker. Then you’ll be ready for “lights, camera, action!”

DNA and You will teach you about the basic building blocks of the human body, DNA. Want to know the sequence of your mitochondrial DNA? Or how the CSI professionals identify crime suspects from trace evidence? We’ll give you some hands-on experience dealing with DNA and bacteria (the workhorses of molecular biology) as you explore the brave new world of genetics.

Angry birds.  Dungeons and Dragons.  Call of Duty.  Settlers of Catan.  Farmville.  Chess.  Fantasy Football.  Geocaching.  Rock Paper Scissors.  Games are everywhere.  Why?  What do they mean?  This class will study videogame and board game design and psychology, the social effects of gaming, the question of violence, and game theory: what we can learn from games to "play" life better.  In this class you will experience many types of games and simulations, analyze them, and finally design your own.

Speak to me only with your...HANDS! will teach you to communicate using exciting and expressive American Sign Language. Role-playing and interactive games will be used to learn about the culture of the Deaf community alongside learning the language itself, the fourth most widely used language in the United States.

The Summer Scholars Academy, formerly the Lone Star Scholars Academy, is a two-week, residential summer academy for high school students who have completed their freshman year. Students enroll in two one-credit-hour courses, chosen from a list of courses submitted by faculty members and approved by TLU departments and colleges. Each course has 2 ½ contact hours per day. There will be a break in the morning, a break for lunch, and a break in the afternoon. The purpose of the academy is to showcase the TLU experience through coursework, contact with outstanding faculty, and exposure to the campus.

SSA 2013 will run July 7-19. Scholars will arrive on campus on Sunday, July 7, move into their residence halls, and attend an opening convocation and reception, at which time they will meet the academy faculty and staff. Classes will begin Monday, July 8 and end on Friday, July 19. Closing activities will be held on Friday, following the last class period.

Tuition, room, board, books, and all associated activity fees and materials costs are included in the price of $1400. A $100 deposit must accompany your application. The remaining balance is due by July 2. Need-based financial aid is available. To apply for financial aid please submit the Financial Aid Request Form.

When you go to college, you enter a whole new world: new room, new roommate, new classes, and new expectations. It can be a tough transition. The college search is about finding more than just the right major, but the right fit and the right experience. SSA gives you a taste of the future, and lets you "try on" the college experience, so that when the future arrives, you’ll be ready for it.