STEM
Cross Functional Instructional Areas:
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach.
Your Challenge:
No matter where we look in the world today, there is something that has the potential to grow, be fixed, altered, or transformed, to create opportunities for human beings, nature, animals, fresh and salt water, things that are made from nature, man-made, or a little bit of both, to expand beyond our wildest dreams. If you think about it, STEM inventions have revolutionized the world. From the wheel, to the printing press, to the light bulb, antibiotics, and the internet, these inventions have catapulted mankind into the modernity of our times. However, are all STEM related inventions good? Do they all help the world in a significant and meaningful way? What about the Segway, Asbestos, and Pop-Up Ads? How do people create and why do they create? What will YOU create? Come work in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – along with a dose of common sense to discover the power of discovery, and the ownership and responsibility for what you create.
What To Expect:
Students will have the opportunity to work, hands on, with elements of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, combined with their own curiosity. They will be working with resources and people related to the field of STEM research to discover what it means to use these arenas of expertise in a collaborative fashion. They will have the opportunity to combine their intellect with their interests, along with others who are fascinated with the same ideas, concepts, and world questions.
What You Will Do:
Students will have the opportunity for hands-on, interest-based, collaborative and/or individual work. They will have opportunities to learn new concepts and ideas regarding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as the force that these areas of study can have on the world. They will then have their own chance to formulate, experiment, calculate, reformulate, and create something that can be shared with, not only their team, but also with an audience of like-minded individuals who will be able to provide them with feedback that will help them to grow as researchers and creators. You will have an opportunity to evaluate your own work by using criteria that guide the work of most professional writers, inventors, and other creative people.
Business/Entrepreneurship
Cross Functional Instructional Areas:
Creativity, Innovation, Marketing, Product Design and Development, Research and Development, Business Feasibility, Presentation, Math, Technology
Your Challenge:
According to Forbes Magazine, and a study by Saras D. Sarasvathy of the University of Virginia’s Business School, there is an approach that seems to work well for people who successfully start businesses:
- They really wanted to do what they set out to do.
- They begin by taking a small step toward their goal.
- After taking that small step, they stop to see what they have learned.
- Once they understand what they learned, they take another small step (www.forbes.com/sites/actiontrumpseverything).
Entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Jack Ma, J.K. Rowling, John Paul DeJoria, Madam CJ Walker and Oprah Winfrey all came from places where they “had to make themselves” and they did not quit when things became difficult. They shifted and changed, took risks, and, at the same time, they looked toward their goals with plans and ideas on how to get there.
What kind of business are you interested in pursuing? As an entrepreneur, are you looking to start something brand new and revolutionary, or are you interested in building upon something that has already been created and transforming it into something uniquely new? In this daring, exciting, creative undertaking filled with creativity opportunity you will have the chance to find out!
What To Expect:
Students will have the opportunity to truly look at their own unique and original ideas, as well as look at the history of entrepreneurship and the business model to discover how to match up their own creativity and personal designs with the tools, background, and resources needed to get them started, and help them through the roadblocks – both internal and external – that get in their way.
What You Will Do:
Students will share and build upon their ideas through collaboration and communication with those in their group, as well as with experts in the field of business and entrepreneurship. Resources and the chance to work with those who have knowledge about this subject will be made available to enable students to discover how to take the beginnings of ideas and craft them into what they want their businesses to be. There will be time for success, as well as time for recovering from the struggles when things don’t “quite go right.” The best of the best comes from an understanding that mistakes create new and deeper understanding, as well as a business that has looked at and through the problems it may encounter, and has met each of them in turn, and succeeded in solving them. You will have an opportunity to evaluate your own work by using criteria that guide the work of most professional writers, inventors, and other creative people.
Social Action and Humanities
Cross Functional Instructional Areas:
Literature, Languages, Philosophy, Religion, Musicology, Art, Global Studies
Your Challenge:
When one thinks of Social Action, it is important to consider what time period is being referred to in relation to the term. Humanities are academic disciplines that study human culture. However, in the Middle Ages, divinity referred to classics and were the main area of secular (non-spiritual) studies in universities at that time. Today, the humanities have a different focus: ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, religion, art, and musicology.
Today, in high schools, humanities classes usually consist of English Literature, Global Studies, and Art.
Isn’t it interesting how one word, one study, could change course over time? In this course of study and creation, you will have the opportunity to determine what aspect, time period, element, and aspects of humanities you are most interested in discovering and then, deciding what you want to do with your discoveries! Would you like to paint, write, sing, make music, create a book of your studies, and invest your time in the wisdom of something that you have discovered that you would then want to find a new way to share with others? The humanities provides so many different ways of looking at human culture, as well as art, language, literature, philosophy, religion, etc. Consider the opportunity to look through the lens of History at people in another time period, another culture, another experience, and how you could best express what you have come to understand, or even, what you still question.
What to Expect:
In this particular journey, get ready to discover the humanities in many different ways: from artwork, to music, to philosophy, to language and creative writing, to music, to global studies, and to literature. Using your chosen viewpoint, think about what you would like to create as a result of your tour through your chosen area of work in the humanities: would you like to create something of your own? Would you like to collaborate with others to display and communicate the best of all of your talents for a showcase? Would you be interested in digging more deeply into the research of something that has always fascinated you, but now, you have the resources, and the time – right at the edges of your fingertips – to dig right in? There will be experts and there will be resources. There will be time for you to ask questions, and to think about what you want to do, and then, there will be time to do it! In the end, there will be the opportunity to showcase your work, your thoughts, ideas, and opinions at an event created, just for you.
What You Will Do:
Students will have the opportunity to avail themselves to many different elements of the humanities, through the internet, through film, through field trips, and through speakers who will come to share their own experiences, and insights. Students will have the opportunity to make decisions, based upon their own interests, to discover if they would like to work alone, with a partner, or with a group of people or, on a number of projects that they feel will represent the talents and interests that they have and by which they have been most inspired. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions, investigate their personal interests, and pursue their own ideas to cultivate as their final products for display at the final event. You will have an opportunity to evaluate your own work by using criteria that guide the work of most professional writers, inventors, and other creative people.
Creative/Performing Arts
Cross Functional/Instructional Areas:
Creative Arts, Digital Media, History, Music, Drama, Dance, Literature, Marketing, Performing Arts, Social Studies, Social Media
Your Challenge:
When was the last time that you went to see a performance? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not? In this opportunity, everything that you loved or did not love about that performance will be yours, and your teams to make, or break! Creating a performance is not an easy thing to do. Roopa Dudley, who is a painter, made a list on her LinkedIn page to come up with her own ideas as to why she and perhaps others create all kinds of art:
- To Feed Their Narcissism. REWARD: Attention
- To Capture Time. REWARD: Immortality
- To Entertain Self and Like Minded People. REWARD: Recognition
- To Escape Drudgery and the Mundane. REWARD: Psychological Relief
- To Make a Political Statement. REWARD: Impact
- To Appreciate Beauty. REWARD: Acknowledgement
- To Shock: REWARD: Notoriety
She ends with a fabulous quote from Einstein: I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. Albert Einstein.
So, as an artist, what, and how, do you want to create? The world is your canvas, and this is your time, Do you want to paint, or do you want to create a play with the others in your group? Write a script? Make costumes? Create the scenery? Do you want to dance on stage? Do you want to sing? Do want to create ensembles that perform, one after the other, as though the stage is a Cabaret?
Here’s the great news. The choice is yours.
What To Expect:
Upon arriving at your experience, you will need to determine, on your own, and with your group, what it is that you want to do. You will have an audience, and you will have the time to create the show of your dreams. Expect to be able to be your best self, and to place your talents out like diamonds to show to everyone. The sooner your gifts are exposed to your team, the sooner you will be able to create your performance(s). Some may want to be on the stage, while some may want to be behind the stage, working the sets, lighting the stage, and making sure that everyone is right where they should be. Perhaps you are a photographer, creating head-shots of each of the performers, as well as the stage crew, and the musicians.
You will have a facilitator there who will help you to get your supplies, offer advice, and help you to put your best feet forward. Your facilitator might need to get other people or resources for your show – it will be up to you to let that person know what you need!
What You Will Do:
You will be the artist, as Albert Einstein suggests who will “draw freely upon your imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” It will be up to you to determine, with your team (actors, musicians, painters, dancers, directors, etc.) what you want to create, and why. Don’t forget your audience! What is the purpose of what you will be performing? Is it an original piece or pieces? Or are you preparing a performance that has already been performed? So many questions, and so much excitement! You will have an opportunity to evaluate your own work by using criteria that guide the work of most professional writers, inventors, and other creative people.