"The higher we go the better we shall hear the voice of Christ. Verso l' alto!" - Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
The PEAK summer programs introduce high school juniors and seniors to a community of learners and explorers. Students will spend some hours each day studying the Great Books, some hours in outdoor recreation unique to our college, and some time resting in prayer and the sacraments. Outdoor activities include horseback riding, rock-climbing, rappelling, and a 4-day backpacking trip. All ability levels are welcome!
Information for all programs
See below for information for how to get here, what a typical day looks like, and what to bring!
Get to know your PEAK 2020 Counselors! We'll be introducing each counselor in the section below. Stay tuned for more!
Kathryn Boucher
“My favorite class overall would have to be Theology. I leave most classes with my mind blown in some new way. There is SO much more to the Catholic faith and it’s teachings than I ever imagined in high school.”
WCC Class of: 2021
Hometown: Westminster, CA
Biggest highlight at WCC: Probably the way I have seen myself grow since freshman year. The community life is also one of my favorite things about WCC. There have been lots of crazy adventures and “you had to be there” moments in the last three years!
Favorite outdoor trip memory: Freshman year I went backpacking in the desert, and one warm night a few of us slept out under the milky-way and spent hours watching a meteor shower, singing, cracking stupid jokes, and laughing hysterically. Inside jokes from that night still come up three years later.
Favorite WCC class: That is such a hard question… I really enjoy horsemanship, the experiential leadership program (ELP), and philosophy. But my favorite class overall would have to be Theology. I leave most classes with my mind blown in some new way. There is SO much more to the Catholic faith and it’s teachings than I ever imagined in high school. You really could spend your whole life contemplating God and never run out of things to think about.
You would never guess that I’ve been skydiving and scuba diving. I can’t decide which was more fun.
Eastlyn Ullmann
“I have been taught how to love and have walked closer to Christ hand-in-hand with my friends. Dances, outdoor trips, processions, late-night conversations, study sessions — these are just a glimpse into the rich and Catholic community that has captured my love and vitalized my soul.”
WCC Class of: 2021
Hometown: Las Cruces, NM
Biggest highlight at WCC: The highlight of my time at WCC has been the community. I have been taught how to love and have walked closer to Christ hand-in-hand with my friends. Dances, outdoor trips, processions, late-night conversations, study sessions — these are just a glimpse into the rich and Catholic community that has captured my love and vitalized my soul.
Favorite outdoor trip memory:My favorite outdoor trip memory is returning to the Wind River Mountains for a second time and with a new group of people. I got to explore the same mountains, same lakes, and same campsites with new eyes and more experience. It was a pivotal experience in my formation as a leader and as a person.
You’d never guess that I used to play a lot of video games in high school. Halo, Call of Duty, Destiny….I even considered becoming a professional league gamer….but I’m SO glad I picked WCC instead!
Favorite class: My favorite class (at the moment) is Humanities. I love to inform my own decisions and opinions by reading the wisdom and folly of ages past. The Iliad taught me how to really read, Hamlet prompted me to seek a deeper understanding of my own identity, and Crime and Punishment gave me an insight into human psychology and its relation to God. There are so many more examples of life-changing books and passages that will stay with me for years to come.
Carlos Solis
“Thanks to WCC (and especially to God) I realized that whenever I am suffering I am able to look at it in a third person point of view in that moment and be able to judge it accordingly.”
WCC Class of: 2021
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Highlight at WCC: My best highlight here as a student is the moment when I realized that suffering is such a beautiful and important experience. Thanks to WCC (and especially to God) I realized that whenever I am suffering I am able to look at it in a third person point of view in that moment and be able to judge it accordingly. I realized that suffering has a three-fold purpose: 1.) It gives you the chance to have God as a deeper friend 2.) It means God is treating you as a son, as opposed to a “illegitimate son” (Hebrews 12:8) and 3.) It allows you to mimic Christ himself in his greatest moment before the resurrection.
Favorite outdoor trip memory: My friends and I were singing B.o.B in a monotone voice at 1:00 AM under the night sky in Utah for 20 minutes. It was nice.
You would never guess that I slapped a pig before. This is special for me because I live in suburbia, not too many pigs there. Oh, I got Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature when he had a press conference about the newly created state coin. That was cool I guess.
Favorite Class at WCC: My favorite WCC class huh? I’d hate to limit myself to just one, but HMN 202 is the first to pop in my head. Reading about the noblest men of Antiquity, and their epics was phenomenal.
Joe White
“The highlight for me at this college is making the best friends that I have ever had. They are true men and women.”
WCC Class of: 2021
Hometown: Hayden, ID
All-time highlight so far: The highlight for me at this college is making the best friends that I have ever had. They are true men and women.
Favorite outdoor trip memory: Hiking for twelve miles in a desert when half the time we were thigh deep in water. How ironic is that!
Favorite WCC class: Theology. It has taught me more about my faith than anything else in the past.
You would never guess that I will only ever have nine toenails.
Louisa Whitmore
“I always knew I loved reading and literature, but I never looked at it in the context of my salvation, a discovery which has profoundly changed my life and mindset as I continue to grow.”
WCC Class of: 2022
Hometown: Austin, Texas
All-time highlight so far: The highlight of my time at WCC has been falling in love with the curriculum. I always knew I loved reading and literature, but I never looked at it in the context of my salvation, a discovery which has profoundly changed my life and mindset as I continue to grow.
Favorite outdoor trip memory: My favorite outdoor trip memory was last Fall, when I co-led a Rock Climbing trip with a good friend. I wish I had a deeper reason to cite this as my favorite, but it was just a really fun trip. We had an incredibly fun, spontaneous group of people who were up for anything, and in spite of the hard moments, like waking up freezing cold, and being exhausted and still having to put up tents and cook dinner, it was all worth it.
Favorite WCC class: My favorite class at WCC so far has been Political Rhetoric and the Common Good. I would compare it to a novel: You go into it not knowing what to expect, and it goes by extremely slowly and seems like it will never end. And you might even dislike it at first, but once you get to the midpoint, it just keeps getting better and starts flying by.
You would never guess that I will do almost anything to get a good cup of coffee – including running a mile, spending all my savings, or being late to class.
Theo Benz
“I was drawn to WCC, because of the outdoor program, but little did I know that it would be the classes that would sell me.”
WCC Class of: 2022
Hometown: Bennett, CO
All-time highlight so far: I was drawn to WCC, because of the outdoor program, but little did I know that it would be the classes that would sell me. I found that every class is a chance to discuss the material with classmates and the professor, instead of being lectured at. Every class is a chance to make new connections, both in the context of that class and to other classes.
Favorite outdoor trip memory: One of my favorite outdoor trip memories so far was during the 2nd to last day of independent travel of the 21-day trip. We were standing on the saddle, looking out over the valley that we had just come from. Looking out, I saw the mountains rising in the distance, ready to be climbed, both the physical mountains in front of me and the many other kinds that I would tackle in my next four years.
Favorite WCC class: My favorite class was freshman Theology, in which we studied the Old Testament. Instead of just interpreting the Old Testament in light of the New, we were encouraged to dive more deeply into the Old Testament itself and discover how it shaped Christianity.
You would never guess that I live on a farm, where we raise yaks in Colorado.
Julia Kuplack
“One of my favorite memories from an outdoor trip is dancing the Lindy Hop to a fiddle in the middle of a canyon.”
WCC Class of: 2021
Hometown: Post Falls, ID
All-time highlight so far: The highlight of my time as a student at WCC has undoubtedly been the friendships I have made here. My friends have encouraged me to push beyond the limits I had created for myself. They have shared my greatest joys, sorrows and adventures! God is surely using them to bring me closer to Him.
Favorite outdoor trip memory: One of my favorite memories from an outdoor trip is dancing the Lindy Hop to a fiddle in the middle of a canyon.
Favorite WCC class: My favorite class so far at WCC has been the Junior Author Project. It has been really neat to get to the heart of an author’s genius, to discover who they really are, what they care about, what they struggle with, and to see how they manifest themselves in their writing! The author’s work really is a part of him, not just an arbitrary construction. At least that is what I have discovered with my author, Willa Cather. She has sparked in me a real love for reading! (Yes, I came to a Liberal Arts college, and I did not like reading.)
You would never guess that my mufflerless car can be heard in all the Western states. (Keep your ears open!)
Ben Bridge
“One of my favorite memories from an outdoor trip was paddling down the river in white water rafts. We were all sopping wet from the forgone rain and splashing waves. And then it started snowing. All the while, we sang songs and told jokes, while trying to forget about the numbness in our feet.”
WCC Class of: 2021
Hometown: Delafield, WI
All-time highlight so far: The highlight of my time as a student at WCC has been the camaraderie, the late night heart to heart conversations about philosophy, poetry and life, the times gathered around the bonfire looking up at the stars and singing songs.
Favorite outdoor trip memory: One of my favorite memories from an outdoor trip was paddling down the river in white water rafts. We were all sopping wet from the forgone rain and splashing waves. And then it started snowing. All the while, we sang songs and told jokes, while trying to forget about the numbness in our feet.
Favorite WCC class: My favorite class is Theology because of both its significance and because of how it connects with all the other classes.
You would never guess that I used to make maple syrup as a springtime hobby in high school.
MaryAnne Spiess
“One of the biggest highlights has been getting to engage with my peers without the interruptions of electronics. This quality engagement among classmates is truly what sustains a person through rigorous academic training.”
WCC Class of: 2022
Hometown: Derwent, Alberta, Canada
All-time highlight so far: One of the biggest highlights has been getting to engage with my peers without the interruptions of electronics. It’s spectacular to have deep, uninterrupted, face to face discussions on everything from poetry to politics, mathematics to mythology, or ancient heroes to the Christian life. This quality engagement among classmates is truly what sustains a person through rigorous academic training. It’s a peek into the past, before the cell phone, and perhaps a peek into a better future!
Favorite outdoor trip memory: I brought my violin on a backpacking trip through a canyon in Utah. One evening I took it out as dusk was falling. We were camped on a kind of plateau within the canyon, near a waterfall. I began to play the classical repertoire I had by heart, and as I played the moon rose, the gentle breeze was warm, the splash of the water-fall added to the surreality of the moment. For a time, time stopped, and I played my violin to the moon and the majestic canyon walls, suspended somewhere between the floor of the canyon and the mesa above – you just can’t beat something like that!
Favorite WCC class: I’d have to say Humanities. The way that the classes shed light on each other at WCC is phenomenal, and for me personally, Humanities functions as a kind of central vortex. It brings everything else into relevance by showing how humans are human, and how they do everything that they do precisely because they are human. In Humanities I’ve seen how the deep questions asked by men and women throughout the ages were responded to philosophically by brilliant men like Plato and Aristotle, how the desperate cries against the problem of evil from Achilles to Ivan Karamazov are responded to theologically by Aquinas, and how the insatiable and almost mystic curiosity of the men of antiquity formed the basis of modern mathematics.
You would never guess that I love the snow (I am Canadian for the record) and I’ll build a snow-cave any chance I get — and sleep in it too!
Matthew Kubisch
“The memory of the high level of energy and the bonding during preparation for the dance never fails to bring a smile to my face.”
WCC Class of: 2022
Hometown: Bloomington, IN
All-time highlight so far: I’d have to say it was when my entire class threw a circus themed dance. The memory of the high level of energy and the bonding during preparation for the dance never fails to bring a smile to my face and the dance itself was amazing–from the hilarious skits for entertainment to the breath-taking, hand-drawn billings for the entertainment acts.
Favorite outdoor trip memory: We had just hiked over the crest of a hill and there below us on a lower hill was a mother grizzly and her cub! Since we were up-wind of her, she was caught completely unawares and immediately bolted in the opposite direction. It was amazing to come into contact with such a majestic creature (albeit terrifying) and I always remember the fear and elation of having chased off a grizzly bear.
Favorite WCC class: I’d have to say any of the Sophomore Theology classes. I have always puzzled over the doctrine of free will and the mystery of the Trinity and so I loved learning about them.
You would never guess that I love magic tricks!
Kathy Swift
“Believe it or not, I think one of my highlights as a WCC student was during quarantine.”
WCC Class of: 2022
Hometown: Flagstaff, AZ
All-time highlight so far: Believe it or not, I think one of my highlights as a WCC student was during quarantine. I was able to spend finals week at a classmate’s house, and being able to reconnect with other students – sharing the books we had been longing to talk about and the laughter we had been longing to enjoy – really brought home how much WCC and its community has given me.
Favorite outdoor trip memory: A highlight from the outdoor program was in Moab. We had just crested a high bluff, with barren desert on one side and forest on the other. I remember standing at the top, looking out, and knowing for certain that I was exactly where I belonged.
Favorite WCC class:Overall, my favorite class would have to be Theology. It’s like getting to figure out a mystery novel where there is always another layer to unfold, but with each layer it becomes more intriguing and more beautiful.
You would never guess that I played the bagpipes for a year.