Pioneer Open Summer Study – POSS

Requirements

To be eligible to participate in Pioneer Open Summer Study, the following requirements must be met:

• Teams must have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 students.
• Participating students should be in grades 9 through 12.  For Scheduled Participation teams, at least two team members and the Captain of the team must be in 10th or 11th grade.
• The Captain needs to get a teacher to sign as the observer. In some cases, Pioneer may offer additional support from alumni of the research program, and in such cases, Pioneer may have to prioritize the Pioneer alumni support to 10th and 11th grade teams if the demand for support exceeds support resources.
• Each team must have one team member serve as the team Captain. The Captain’s responsibility is to ensure team formation, team attendance, timely completion of the work, communication with high school faculty observer, and all other coordination.
• Each team is required to get its school guidance counselor or school faculty to sign a written consent to check in for at least three updates on a study group.
• Scheduled Participation teams have to be committed to attending a set schedule of the online classes. The detailed schedules will be released in June. The time commitment requirement may work best for students with flexibility in the summer.
• If any member of a Scheduled Participation team is late for or misses up to two Scheduled Participation classes, or if a Scheduled Participation team as a whole misses one Scheduled class, the team then loses its Scheduled Participation eligibility.
• All teams need to behave and communicate academically and appropriately. Inappropriate language or communication will lead to termination of participation.
• Because Pioneer is offering this program at no cost, Pioneer does not guarantee any result or outcome from participation or any service or support. Pioneer is not responsible for conflict, failure or anxiety among the study teams related to POSS.
• During the self-directed independent study stage, Pioneer Research Program alumni, who have previously done research in similar fields of study with the Pioneer Research Program, may hold online office hours to help students answer questions. Team Captains or designated members are required attend any online office hours meeting that they schedule.
• Each Scheduled Participation team will most likely be required to give a final presentation and the recording of the presentation will be uploaded on POSS-designated web space. Team members may be able to include the link to the presentation in their college applications.
• Each Self-Paced team is required to upload a final presentation recording on the POSS designated web space. POSS participants may be able to choose to add the link to their college application. POSS presenters are encouraged to invite Pioneer Research alumni, school friends or school teachers and counselors to attend the presentation.