Telluride Association Summer Programs, or TASPs, were selective six-week educational experiences for rising high school seniors offering intellectual challenges beyond secondary school level.
[1] The programs were designed to bring together young and intellectually bright students from around the world who share a passion for learning.
However, any high school junior could request an application, and acceptance largely ignored standardized test scores and graded academic performance.
Sample essay prompts included "Discuss a specific problem or topic in a field that interests you" and "Write a critical analysis of a book, poem, play, essay, or other text you have read outside of school.
Vincent Lloyd, professor and director of Africana studies at Villanova University, wrote an article about his experience teaching at one of the restructured courses that replaced Telluride Association Summer Program.