The Cornerstone Summer Institute is a week-long summer camp at the University of Virginia where high school students learn about slavery and its legacies by exploring the University, Charlottesville, and area landmarks. The camp provides rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors with the opportunity to engage in historical investigation, archaeological excavation, and community engagement in order to learn and develop thinking skills that will prepare them for success in college and beyond. Designed by members of the University of Virginia President’s Commission on Slavery and the University, the institute encourages critical thinking while students learn about both the University’s past and the modern-day legacies of slavery. Students explore the early history of the University by getting hands-on experience with archival records, by rolling up their sleeves on an archaeological dig where enslaved people lived and worked, and by learning–through community engagement–how the U.Va. story had an impact on the surrounding area. Students, in addition to collegiate skill-building, get the full U.Va. experience–living in dorms, eating in dining halls, meeting new friends, and exploring the Jefferson-designed school.

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