Anjali Bose ’20: Jterm classes have recently been announced, and now students know what course they are in and are preparing. Although many of the Jterm courses remained the same this year, students will have the opportunity to experience sixteen unique and newly introduced ones.
One of the new Jterms included is Dance Marathon EA, which according to Dr. Delvin Dinkins, Head of Upper School, is “a Jterm modeled after the ‘Thon’ fundraiser and initiative, up at Penn State,” that raises money to fight childhood cancer through a 46 hour no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon. Another dance-related Jterm new this year Dance and Society, which will be taught by Cara Lavallee, a course designed to show how dance as an art form can influence society, and vice versa. “It is a real opportunity to show the social, cultural, and historical context for dance,” says Dinkins.
Another Jterm described as “a joint venture between many of the teachers” by Dinkins is called Who Do You Think You Are? The course is about genealogy, and is “designed to help students understand more about their family backgrounds and the impact of their family history on not only the United States, by on their current family as well,” explained Dinkins. “It really is designed to help people understand family lineage.”
There is also a Jterm focused on teaching about the ethics and sociology of superheroes. “A superhero in our society has really been a strong mythological and archetypal figure, and so this Jterm will really think about superheroes and how much of a role they play in our society, both in fantasy but also in real life terms,” says Dinkins. Other new Jterms include Building Understanding, Gender, Identity and Equality, Podcastic: Join the EA Podcasting Revolution, Up, Up & Away, and Urban Scrawl: Writing in the City.
Additionally, there are several new Jterm travel courses happening this year. One is taking place in Montana Glacier National Park, led by Molly Konopka, and Max Kelly. According to Dinkins,“This course is sort of exploration, but also a deep dive into National Parks, with Montana Glacier National Park being a case study in national parks.” Students will also be going down to Costa Rica, which will be headed by Mrs. Brinks. This course will focus most primarily on community service within international contexts, as well as conservation. “It’s like an ecotourism course as well,” adds Dinkins.
There will also be two separate Jterms each taking place in Cuba. One of is devoted chiefly to journalism. “The thrust of that course is to document and understand Cuban history and culture through a journalist lens, and also appreciated that now that Cuba has become a more open society what that means in terms of their culture and impact not only within that geographic sphere but also internationally,” said Dinkins. The second is geared more towards the history and culture of Cuba itself. It will be led by Kris Aldridge and Rob Trumbull. “It’s all about Cuba then and Cuba now. So it’ll be looking at the historical arch that has defined Cuba in relationship to the United States but also the world.” explained Dinkins.
With the addition of so many new Jterms, the question arises how Dinkins, as well as Jterm coordinators Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Clemmer, regulate the courses, by choosing which courses to keep, which to remove, and who will teach them. Each year, each course’s traction and success gets reviewed. Success is determined primarily by feedback from both students and teachers. Sometimes this feedback results in courses being put on hold to be reworked or changes to accommodate staffing needs. “There are any numbers of ways or reasons for which a course may change. There are some courses we find just don’t work so well, so they get changed or abandoned altogether,” adds Dinkins.
When new courses are designed, a big question that is always asked is “which type of students will this attract.” Dinkins says, “I’m a big fan of the belief of attracting a wide variety of any type of student to one course. I would love to think that a course like Dance and Society would attract both seniors and freshmen, boys and girls.” However, certain courses do end up having students compiled of mostly one grade or gender. Nevertheless, for both existing and new courses alike, the hope is to have balanced and blended Jterms.
For students enrolled in these new courses, expectations vary from wary to excited. Remy Peskin ’19, who is in the new Museums: Get in on the Ground Floor Jterm, says, “Last year, I knew almost everything occurring in my Jterm because of the feedback I received from upperclassmen. However, this year, because it’s a new Jterm, I do not know what I am really in for.”
On the other hand, Ally Marino ’18, who is in the new Mock Trial course, says, “I’m very excited about Mock Trial because it is something I haven’t been involved with before and it gives a new perspective on how the judicial system works. I think it will provide an opportunity to try all sorts of activities related to the court system which will be very interesting.”