Academic & College Advising

The Academic and College Advising Team exists to partner with parents and students as they prayerfully consider their unique path towards academic and postgraduate success. We desire to be a valuable resource to families on the journey through Upper School course selections, graduation planning, and college/career preparation.

Academics & Graduation

  • Our Upper School Graduation Requirements allow students the opportunity to select a Standard or Advanced Diploma track. Use this Graduation Planner Tool to track your progress!

  • During the spring semester of Junior Year, academic advisors hold individual parent/student meetings to discuss graduation and college admissions.

  • Before the school year begins, 9th grade students attend a special welcome session to discuss graduation requirements and course planning.

  • Students have three options to complete their 1.5 required credits of PE:

    1. Participate in athletics as an Upper School student at Summit. For each completed season, students receive .5 PE credits (with a maximum of 1.5 credits earned).

    2. Enroll in PE as your elective choice. Each semester, students can earn .25 PE credits.

    3. Independent Study Log. Use this blank log (which will ask you to make a copy) and chart your own PE activity. Students can earn .25 PE credits for 90 minutes/weekly or .5 PE credits for 180 minutes/weekly per semester (with a maximum of 1.5 credits earned). Logs must be submitted to the Academic Advising Team before the end of the semester.

  • God has given us a beautiful identity and calling: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10.

    With this in mind, Upper School students have Service Hours crafted into their graduation requirements at Summit. Please see the guidelines below:

    1. 100 service hours should be completed while in grades 9-12.

      *Students who transfer to Summit will be required to complete 25 hours of service for each year in attendance.

    2. Up to 50% of service hours may be completed in volunteer work at Summit or on campus at your local church (kids ministry, worship band, tech/video, etc.).

    3. 100% of service hours may be completed within the community (volunteering at a soup kitchen, nursing home, etc.), on a local or international missions trip, or during a church community outreach program.

    4. Students should enter their service hours through Veracross.

      Stay tuned for instructions on how to enter hours in our new Student Information System!

College & Career Planning

  • Our 4-Year College Planning Timeline will guide you through each Upper School grade level with helpful tasks to get you ready for college!

  • Need to send a transcript or want a copy for your own records? Records are available via Parchment

  • The Classical Learning Test (CLT) is a college entrance exam administered to 11th and 12th grade students on campus at Summit. Proctored by the Academic and College Advising Team, this test is given in a familiar environment for students, setting the stage for optimal success. The CLT is accepted by many colleges as an alternative to the traditional SAT and ACT tests.

    In addition, the CLT-10 is also administered to all 9th and 10th grade students at Summit. This test not only serves as a practice test for the CLT, but also provides opportunities for students to earn scholarships based on their scores and rankings.

  • For the SAT/ACT, students must register independently (not through Summit).

    SAT Dates and Registration

    ACT Dates and Registration

  • The FAFSA opens during October of senior year. This is a Federal Aid resource that colleges often require to be completed as an initial step in the Financial Aid and registration process.

    Check out these CLT Partner Schools to see if your test scores earn you some scholarship money!

  • Fact Sheet & Links

Academics & Graduation FAQs

  • Summit meets and exceeds WA State graduation requirements.

  • No

  • You can only log hours for PE independently. For other electives you must take in-school classes.

  • For each season of a high school sport you can get .5 PE credits.

  • There is a link on your homepage in Veracross to log all volunteer hours.  A template is also located on our website under the Academic/College Planning tab.

  • Grand Canyon University, Liberty University, and Colorado Christian.

  • Yes, our elective options are distinctly varied beyond what is offered in most academic settings because they are often led by talented members of our community.

  • We understand that it seems like, in this world of technological organizing tools for all of the various activities we (as adults) engage in, we should be able to use Veracross in this way.  However, we have chosen not to for the following reasons:


    1. We are striving to train virtue into the heart of every student.  Requiring students to use planners (or keep track of their own assignments in some other way) trains the students in responsibility, diligence, accountability, and reliability.  

    2. We believe that students need to develop the ability to keep track of their assignments without technological back-up.  We desire for the students to be accountable for their work even if technology fails, there is a service disruption, internet outage etc. 

    3. We believe they should take ownership of their planner/calendar by updating it themselves with what is expected of them and when it is expected, rather than having their teachers do it for them.  By requiring students to keep track of their own planners, teachers are equipping them with the skills they need to be successful inside and outside of school.  

    4. Personalized planners leave space to add sports, church, appointments, and events.  Seeing personalized events will help students manage how they will pace out and accomplish long term projects given other demands on their time.

    5. We are training our students to become adults. When our students enter adulthood, whether it be the workforce, college, or trade school, they will need to keep track of what is expected of them and when – it will not be done for them.  We are best serving our students by preparing them to be organized and independent. 

    6. And lastly, a practical matter: It is often the case that teachers make adjustments to their assignments in class depending on their real-time assessment of how the students progressed through a lesson. The kind of instruction we provide that flows from our philosophy of education does not lend itself to a plug and play approach to assignments. If an assignment is put in the system before actually being given to the student, then teachers are restricted in their pedagogical approach. This would work against us in our desire to adjust pacing based on the needs of our students. 

    Please note:  Our teachers are asked to write assignments on the board and give students time to write them in their planners.

College & Career Planning FAQs

  • Yes, often colleges will look for these sorts of experiences in your application and especially in your essays for admission and for scholarships. A key way to approach this is to identify a need in your community and then create a solution. This will allow you to develop your leadership skills and address your volunteer hours. If you would like to discuss ideas

  • There are many opportunities to pursue leadership during your years at Summit. These include:

    • Student Council

    • House Leadership

    • Worship Leaders

    • Technology supervisors

    • Servant Leadership Elective (which facilitates students designing and implementing individual opportunities)

    • Club leadership

    • Yearbook Editor 

    • Senior Leadership course

    • PSAT - Can be taken as a practice test in 10th grade

    • PSAT/NMQ - Taken October of 11th grade, this practice test qualifies top test scores into the pool of eligible National Merit award winners.

    • SAT- Taken 11th grade and/or fall of 12th grade

      • SAT is a humanities based exam scored out of 1600 pts.

      • May or may not have an essay component (essay component not required for college applications)

      • You may take the test multiple times, but you only may release one score for college application purposes.

      • More information can be found here: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org

    • ACT- Taken 11th grade and/or fall of 12th grade

      • ACT is more math/science heavy and is an alternative to SAT

      • Scored out of 36 points

      • More information at www.act.org.

    • CLT10 - Offered twice throughout the school year, once in November and once in February

      • It is a practice exam for the CLT for 9th and 10th graders

      • Can qualify students for awards and scholarships, based on score

    • CLT- Taken 11th grade and/or fall of 12th grade

      • Verbal Reasoning, Grammar and Writing, and Quantitative Reasoning sections

      • Optional essay component (not a part of your score, but can be used to display your reasoning and writing skills to colleges)

      • Always superscored – test results will automatically be released to colleges and universities as a composition of your highest scores in each section

      • Aimed for a wider background of educations, including Classical Education

      • Accepted at most Christian colleges and universities, and at many others but you should check the application requirements for your institutions of interest!

      • https://www.cltexam.com/compare/clt-vs-sat/

  • Summit is not yet eligible to host College Board tests (SAT, PSAT) and so it is the responsibility of the individual parents and students to make arrangements for these exams.  The first place to begin is with your local public school, which should be able to offer you a place to test.  Oftentimes though, they have a maximum number of students allowed for testing (especially for the SAT) and so they can fill up early.  It is recommended to be in touch with the testing coordinator beforehand so that you can be aware of any dates and deadlines for registration.  

    Another option is to find another school somewhere else – usually in a less populated area of the state – where they have room to host.  Some of our Summit students have found success in places like Olympia and various parts of eastern Washington.  

    We are very hopeful that Summit will be able to host College Board tests (including AP exams!) for the 2025-2026 school year.

    CLT exams are always hosted at Summit and the registration goes through our Registrar, Molly Skinner.  The CLT is guaranteed to be offered twice (Optional in October, and mandatory in February) for 11th and 12th graders, and is often offered one more optional time in April or May for 11th graders.  

    The CLT10 is offered in November and February.  It is optional both times for 9th graders. The fall CLT10 is optional for 10th graders, but all 10th graders are automatically signed up for the February CLT10.  Summit pays the cost of this.

    The CLT and CLT10 also have remote proctoring programs that you can utilize at home, if you are interested.  More information at:  www.cltexam.com

    If you need resources to help with understanding the ins-and-outs of testing, please contact Kati Davis (katidavis@summitclassical.org) or Molly Skinner (mollyskinner@summitclassical.org).

    1. AP Precalculus

    2. AP Calculus AB

    3. AP Statistics

    4. AP Literature & Composition

    • Rhetoric - English Language & Composition Exam

    • US History - United States History Exam

    • All of our History classes can lead to success on AP World History: Modern exam

    • 2024-25 school year - Hazen High School (AP Precalculus, AP Calc AB, AP Literature & Composition, AP Statistics will be offered)

    • If you want to take an exam not on the list above, you will need to find your own arrangements (first step, local public school!). 

    • https://apcourseaudit.inflexion.org/ledger/ displays all the schools that offer the AP Courses you might be interested in.  You can contact them to see if they will be offering the test this year.

    • Registration is from October 1 - October 22.  

    • Cost for each exam is $99

  • It is recommended that every student create a college board account, if they haven’t already.