Summer Journey
If you are looking for information regarding the Summer Journey, we hosted our last program in the summer of 2024, and will not be offering the program in the foreseeable future, due to the ending of our grant funding.
For any questions regarding this, please email emma.rooker@northwestu.edu.
Take a Journey That Could Change Your Life
The Summer Journey is a five day experience that encourages high school students to dig deeply into their faith and explore what God may be calling them to in their lives.
Summer Journey: June 26–30, 2024
Cost: $450
In a time when students are taking inventory of what the future may hold, we offer them a space to build authentic friendships and ask tough questions about the Bible, their role in community, and their future vocations. With trusted friends and mentors, students will embark on a journey into the story of scripture and gain tools they need to understand God's mission so that they can live as thoughtful, devoted Christians in their home, school, work, and church communities!

Want to Know More?
Our FAQ page covers the most requested information about the Summer Journey program.
Promo Video
Applying for Summer Journey
We are looking for a diverse group of students currently in grades 9-11 who:
- Are committed followers of Jesus Christ
- Are excited by learning and have questions about their calling and the Bible
- Desire to grow deeper in their faith and relationship with God
Summer Journey Snapshot
When: June 26 – June 30, 2024
Who's Invited?

High School Students Currently in Grades 9–11.
Where is It?

Main Campus of Northwest University (Kirkland, WA).
Tuition

Summer Journey Tuition is $450.
Nomination

Pastors and other youth leaders are encouraged to nominate up to 2 students per church or Christian school.
What to Expect: The Summer Journey Experience

- Engaging conversation and teaching
- Small groups and friendship building activities
- Outdoor adventure and activities around the Pacific Northwest
- Experience what it's like to live on a college campus
Students Stories
“I connected with people, especially my small group, better than I could have imagined and I feel like I really experienced campus.”
“Summer Journey has been by far the best spiritual learning experience of my life. Don’t ever get rid of this program!”
“Studying the Bible throughout this program challenged me. It was something I’d never done before and I’m excited to continue doing it!”
It was such a bonding experience, even though I was nervous because I didn't know anybody and I had no idea what to expect. It was still one of the greatest things I've ever been a part of. Just the people who are kind of on the same walks in the same spot in their faith as I was, was so refreshing. I just. At the end of the 10 days, I felt like they were my family and I never wanted to leave them.
Previously, I'd been in a place in my life where there's just a lot going on in my family and I just felt like I wasn't really welcome in a place with everything Christian kind of related. I felt like I wasn't loved, but I came. My mom kind of convinced me to go, my sister and my friends. So I came here. And honestly, it's been more, it's destroyed my expectations. It's been so much more than I could have ever thought.
It's a place where I got to learn and look at my belief and my religion in a different way. And like my relationship with Jesus is different because of that. And I think it was really good for me to be in an atmosphere where it wasn't just like a service because I'm so used to a service. I hear the same things a lot of the time just because I've been in church all my life. And it was a really cool time for me just to understand it in a different way and look at it in a different way.
It's so much more than I expected. I expected it to be kind of the typical youth summer camp, but just longer. And it ended up being more like a college class with a bunch of fun activities. And that was awesome for me to find out because that's what I wanted.
I realized like the cores and the morals of my faith and how I tend to rely a lot on my emotion in my relationship with God instead of like the basics and the actual theology of who God is and why we believe what we believe.
The Bible is like an iceberg and we kind of just tend to stay at the tip. But during this theology camp, we've gone like all the way to the bottom of the iceberg and we've heard so much. And that's an experience you want to share with us.
It's helped me even grow in my faith a lot and see God in a completely new perspective and learn just how incredible God's love is for us. And even through the midst of everything, he continues to pursue us. He continues to want to grow that relationship with us.
I was just like, I need to do this because I need to grow in a way that I haven't grown before. And that's what you get from the Summer Journey. It is a new experience that I believe you can't get anywhere else, that you can't get at a summer camp. And it's something that can definitely change your life.
The whole theology and teaching part. I think that that helped me a lot, realizing my role in God's story. And like, I think that it just opened my eyes to who we are and what we've been called to be as believers.
I would say, is probably the most amazing experience in my faith life that I've ever had. I made so many new friends. I actually don't want to leave. I'm going to be honest. I can totally see myself like reconnecting with everybody and meeting up whenever we get the chance. If you have the opportunity to go, please, please do not pass on it. You have to take that opportunity.
Even if someone isn't as interested in theology as I am comes, then they will probably leave interested in theology. And I think that's a really important thing and it's also just really fun.