The year culminates with May Term, the many projects, outings and trips -- both local and distance -- the students have studied for and prepared throughout the second semester. The May Term program is the embodiment of hands-on, in-depth learning.
Scroll through the pages below for a sampling of recent May Term projects and trips. Click on the pictures for a photo book tour!
Click on the pictures below to see photo albums from the May Term.
Rock-and-Roll in Culture
What is Rock-and-Roll and how, and why, does it affect our culture? Those were the questions leading into this May Term. This group traveled to the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, where they spent a day at the museum tracing the history of Rock-and-Roll music from the early 1900s to today. They ate at The Hard Rock Cafe and The House of Blues (the Gospel Brunch) while enjoying live performances at each.
Canyonlands
The Canyonlands offered this group several remarkable hikes and ever-changing vistas: Needles, Chesler Park, Confluence Overlook, Lost Ditch, Druid Arch. They found the geology fascinating. Camping at Needles Outpost and Squaw Flat campground where the open views provided unforgettable vistas of vermilion formations and the bluest of skies. It was an inspiring sojourn into a land of magic.
Art in Nature
How do we incorporate ART into our lives without harming the environment?
How can we create things without resorting to using store-bought materials?
How can we bring nature closer into our lives and enrich our day-to-day existence?
Where are the places where art, nature and technology can successfully overlap?
The students in this May Term created from their natural environment, making sure that the results were not at anyone's expense. They created ice candles next to mountain streams; they made paper without chemicals, using pressed flowers and plants. They visited earthships and learned of alternative ways of creating artful living structures.
In Ansel's Footsteps
This May Term took students on a nomadic photo tour of Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. The historic photographs of Ansel Adams acted as destination points along the way, but native and Spanish sites were also on our itinerary. In the spirit of Ansel Adams, students photo-documented our trip with traditional cameras and black-and-white film while camping and hiking through the landscape. Furthermore, in the Ansel Adams spirit, the group was small, modest, and meditative.
Broadway Bound
This group's purpose was to discover what our community had to offer in the theatrical arts. They saw professional and amateur plays and musicals on the local stage and went behind the scenes of professional theatre companies. One focus was on considering how technology has affected the modern day performing arts. They talked to professional actors and "techies" in order to gain insight into their passion for their craft. In many ways and on many occasions, these students got lost in the magic of the stage.
Washington D.C.
The Magnetic Fields sang "W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N, baby, D-C" -- paradise to many a social studies teacher! This group traveled to Washington to investigate what really happens in our nation's capital. They examined the tension between the monuments and memorials and the messy process that our republic can create, scrutinizing all three branches of government. We saw many monuments to the leaders of our country and examined whether those monuments tell the whole story. They took in several great museums that provided the opportunity to examine the history of our country, both serious history (the Museum of the Native Indian) and lighter history (the Seinfeld Puffy Shirt and Kermit the Frog in the Popular Culture Collection at the Smithsonian). The focus of this trip was on the positive and negative in US Government. At the outset, students were instructed to be ready for a wide range of activities and emotions--from the levity of popular culture to disillusionment about the abuses of our republican institutions to the pride in our grand democratic institutions and a great hope for the future.
Meditation and Tea
Meditation and Tea was a week of learning the practice of mindful meditation. This form of meditation helps stutents learn to relax and center themselves in their lives. On two days, Donna Roberts, a tea expert and educator, joined the group to teach the benefits of tea on many levels. Donna's recently published book Tea Here Now, has become a huge success in the tea industry. Kathy Sherman also participated for a day, offering her expertise in the areas of meditation and relaxation. Other tools for learning to relax were explored, such as essential oils, incense and conscious eating.
