SUMMER ON THE HILL

Achiever’s Christian School
A conversation with
David Culley, Resource Specialist

Can you please tell us your philosophy and the basic premise of your school?
DC: We are a christian camp who's goal is to give children a place to play, learn, and explore where they will feel safe and excited to participate in a variety of activities and learn about bible stories in a fun way.

How do you think it's different from other similar schools?
DC: Something we do that is unique is that we fully immerse our campers in the bible stories they are learning though drama, song, small group discussion, and play. We will have an "X-Wing Command Officer" in gauging the students in
learning bible verses through games and competitions. We will have Ray from Star Wars resisting temptation from Kylo Ren with her knowledge of biblical principals learned from Luke Skywalker. We will have bible characters coming though out "Time Machine" to tell the children about the bible story from a first hand experience.

What is your Child/Teacher Ratio?
DC: We have a 8 to one student/teacher ratio.

Can you explain a little bit about method of training? What is your overall Philosophy?
DC: I am a behaviorist by training and teach my staff to create a reward rich environment where there is much to earn for good behavior. Spend time learning how to work with all kinds of children and use reward to shape behavior to create a fun, safe, and respectful environment for all the campers and staff.

What is the typical schedule for a child? Do you take kids to any academic or sports or any other competitions?
DC: During the week we have a structured morning with a fun chapel with Star Wars Characters, snack, small group discussion, group game competition, and electives such as sports, cooking and crafts. After lunch the students have a free time during which they can travel freely between several well supervised locations such as out 2 pools, our 2 playgrounds, our sports field, our sports court, our snack shack, game room, craft room and student store. We have weekly field trips on Wednesdays to fun location such as Golf Land, the Tech Museum, Bowling, and Great America. We are not a competition based camp.

How do you deal with challenging kids? What are your training methods?
DC: I have spent several years working in special education and am the resourse specialist at Achiever Christian School and train my staff with several methods for dealing with difficult children, but I am always on call to deal with an especially difficult situation.

What kind of background do you expect from your teachers?
DC: My staff are christian leaders with experience working with children and serving in a christian environment.

How is the ethnic mix in your school? Do you welcome all?
DC: We encourage all kids of diversity at Summer on the Hill. We are welcoming to all ethnicitiies and religious backgrounds, though teaching christian biblical principals is part of our goal.

Do you think an ambitious student can be helped to move forward faster?
DC: Though we are not an academic or athletic camp, we do have opportunities for campers who want a challenge to memorize different levels of out Doctrines to compete in challenges. We also have talent shows and fun physical contests throughout the summer.

What is your message to our readers?
DC: Our number one goal is to give out campers the best summer on their lives with Jesus at the center. We want to engage every one of our children on their level from young to old mentally, physically, and spiritually. We have one of the most beautiful and diverse campuses in San Jose with an extremely well equipped facility. Our program balances structure and learning with freedom and fun to create a summer experience that never lulls of becomes boring. We give the kids an immersive bible lesson experience that teaches the bible stories that create a strong spiritual foundation in a new and exciting way that gets the children excited to learn and grow and waiting for more.