 |
Upper School Home US Philosophy US Faculty & Staff US Calendar/Schedule US Newsletter Student Support Services
 Academic Program
US Athletics
Student Life T.H.R.E.A.D. Community Service Arts Boarding Program International Students & ESL Program
College Guidance
Diversity at SSFS |
|
 Academic Program > Intersession
Intersession is a one to two-week period in the spring in which the School's normal routine is interrupted so that all students and faculty can participate in special projects. All Upper School students are required to participate each year. Intersession projects might involve community service, physical activity, arts activity, cultural or informational trips. Costs are not included in the tuition and range from $50 to more than $1,000. Students must participate in at least one Service Intersession during their enrollment.
2008 Intersession Agreement and Release Form (PDF)
INTERSESSION DESCRIPTIONS 2007-2008*denotes trip that satisfies Service Intersession requirement * SERVICE THAT BENEFITS THE LOCAL LATINO COMMUNITY - Eduardo Polón & Robert Mallonee, Service Intersession, 16 Students, 5 Days, $200 Join Eduardo and Robert in a popular repeat community service Intersession helping the SED Center (Spanish Education Development Center) daycare staff in two predominantly Hispanic preschools in Washington, D.C. Participants will directly serve the educational, social, cultural and self-improvement needs of Latin Americans, particularly recent immigrants. Opportunities to eat in diverse cultural restaurants in the Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan areas will occur daily, prior to returning to campus. This convenient and affordable Monday through Friday Intersession will depart daily from SSFS at 8:00 a.m. and return to campus by 3:20 p.m. in time to catch the school bus. Criteria for selection: Spanish students (in order of most experienced to least), students in need of a Service Intersession (in order of 12th down to 10th grade), students in need of a first choice Intersession, ideally 7-8 boys & 7-8 girls. If needed, random selection through a lottery process. THE MUSIC OF CHICAGO AND MEMPHIS - Elizabeth Doschek & Tom Harrison, 14-16 Students, 6 Days, $900 Join Elizabeth and Tom on an exploration of the history of American music, including the blues, jazz, rockabilly, rock n' roll, soul, and country. We will fly to Chicago, IL, on Sunday, March 16. We will spend two and a half days exploring Chicago's rich musical heritage by visiting museums, attending concerts, and meeting and interviewing Chicago musicians. We will then follow in the footsteps of great American songwriters and travel overnight by train to Memphis, TN on Amtrak's City of New Orleans train. We will arrive in Memphis on the morning of March 19. We will spend two and a half days in Memphis visiting museums (including Elvis Presley's Graceland Mansion), interviewing Memphis musicians, and observing/participating in a blues jam session. We will fly back to Washington, D.C. on Friday, March 21. Criteria for selection: Students with some background in music, students who play instruments and might be willing to participate in a jam session (although this is not a requirement), ideally 7-8 girls and 7-8 boys. If needed, random selection through a lottery process. * HISTORICAL MARYLAND SERVICE - Bob Hoch & David Kahn, Service Intersession, 13 Students, 5 Days, $200 This year those wily Historic Maryland guys (Bob and David) have come up with a new wrinkle in the Historic Maryland tradition. If you are interested in historic preservation and need a service Intersession, this is the trip for you! We will be traveling to various locations and working with their service coordinators to get their parks and museums ready for the spring season. We will be working on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, preparing the Calvert Maritime Museum for spring (hopefully they'll let us play with their otters!), working at Harpers Ferry, traveling by boat to St. Clements's Island to work on the grounds and historic lighthouse, and finally working with a local group either at the Sandy Spring Museum or the Oakley Cabin. The trip will leave each morning from campus and return each evening by 4:30.The cost is $200.00 and the experience is priceless. Criteria for selection: Seniors who need a Service Intersession would take priority. If needed, random selection through a lottery process. * FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD - Ilene Lees & Paummi Sarrazin, Service Intersession, 16 Students, 5 Days, $200 Join Ilene Lees and Paummi Sarrazin if you like to eat, want to learn more about cooking and enjoy serving your community. What could be better than eating great food, learning how to cook, and helping people all, on the same trip! This is a local service Intersession that will focus on taking fun cooking classes, including a chocolate class, and volunteering at local soup kitchens. We will be cooking for a D.C. food program, So Others May Eat, helping the Howard County Food Bank, serving dinner at Shepherd's Table, and cooking for our local community here at SSFS. Criteria for selection: Students in need of a service Intersession (in order of 12th down to 10th grade), students in need of a first choice Intersession, ideally 7-8 boys and 7-8 girls. If needed, random selection through a lottery process. * FRIENDS IN PHILADELPHIA - Leah Niepold & Heather Engle, Service Intersession, 14-16 Students, 5 Days, $550 Make some "friends" in the Philadelphia area by staying with host families from Germantown Friends School and attending Meeting for Worship at historic Arch Street Meeting House. Learn more about Quaker history in the Philadelphia area and prominent figures such as William Penn and Lucretia Mott. Service will include projects with Pendle Hill, Fair Hill Burial Ground and American Friends Service Committee. When the hard work is done, we will enjoy Philadelphia culture and cuisine and visit with SSFS alumni attending Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges. Criteria for selection: Seniors who need a Service Intersession would take priority. If needed, random selection through a lottery process. CENTRAL GULF COAST FLORIDA: THE "OTHER" FLORIDA - Bryan Seith & Cathy Harrison, 12 Students, 7 Days, $900 This trip is designed to introduce students to some of the unique cultural offerings and natural resources found in the central Gulf coast region of the state of Florida. Making use of some of the many state parks, this group will have the opportunity to experience some of the many spring-fed rivers that feed into the Gulf of Mexico or the magnificent green spaces within the Withlacoochee Reserve. We will fly into Tampa, then travel north a little over an hour by van to the coastal area of Crystal River. Spending several days there, we will have a chance to rent bicycles and explore the magnificent 40-mile rails-to-trails Withlacoochee Trail. The group will also experience the Rainbow Springs River in either tubes or canoes. The Homosassa Wildlife Preserve will give us a chance to better understand the manatee and other indigenous species of Florida that are protected and studied there. The group will also visit the Chassahowizka River, Crystal River, and the Gulf of Mexico waterways, using kayaks, canoes and perhaps some larger tour boats. The group will then return to the Tampa area during the last few days of the trip. In addition to visiting the Clearwater Beach and Sponge Docks of Tarpon Springs, we will take time to enjoy the Salvador Dali Museum and, of course, take in at least one spring training baseball game before our flight home. Criteria for selection: Students will be chosen based on the first year of graduation (seniors would take priority). If needed, selections will be made through a random lottery process. * WEST VIRGINIA SERVICE - Bim Schauffler, Dave Burgevin & TBA, Service Intersession, 20 Students, 7 Days, $550 The West Virginia trip will, for the eighth year, be working with the group New Empowerment for Women Plus, an affiliate of the American Friends Service Committee, doing home renovation in the small town of Logan, West Virginia. As has been the case in the past, we will collaborate with Washington Quaker Work camps in making repairs to the homes of primarily elderly, single, African American women in Logan and environs. Work includes scraping and painting houses, cleanup of property, roof repair or replacement, and other home repairs as skills and weather allow. Students who are interested will learn some basic carpentry and home improvement skills. Students will also work with a local teenage mentoring group in the evenings. Participants on this trip will share in cooking and cleaning responsibilities at the old Logan Jr. High School, where we stay during the six days we are in Logan. There will be one day for primarily educational/recreational activities, which include a mountaintop removal mine visit, bowling, ice-skating, go-cart racing and/or hiking. Students who participate in this intersession will get 40 hours of community service, twenty of which meet the community service Intersession requirement, with the balance counting toward the community service requirement for graduation. Students are guaranteed to put in some hard, wholesome and fun work. Criteria for Selection: Students will be chosen based on the first year of graduation (seniors would take priority). If needed, selections will be made through a random lottery process. HIKING IN DEATH VALLEY - Art DeJohn & Barry Merritt, 12-14 Students, 5 Days, $1,000 Hike 11,000 foot mountains, 600 foot sand dunes, sinuous marble canyons, and volcanic cinder cones, while tent camping at sea level and up to 8,500 feet with the potential for snow. Death Valley is a desert climate, warm in the day, and freezing at night. Early March has the potential for wild flowers, reptiles and solitary trails that will vary in length (1/2 mi. to 12 mi.) and elevation (sea level to 11,000 foot). Students will fly into Las Vegas and drive 2.5 hours to Death Valley to tent camp for five days. Students are required to provide appropriate hiking boots and clothing. SSFS will take care of the rest. This is a rugged trip with mind-blowing geology and amazing views. Criteria for Selection: Students will be chosen based on their commitment for serious hiking and on the first year of graduation (seniors would take priority). If needed, selections will be made through a random lottery process. THE COLLEGES AND CULTURE OF VERMONT & MONTREAL - Vickie Garner, Elizabeth Thornton & Jean Mi Sarrazin, 12-14 Students, 8 Days, $995 The College and Culture Tour is an ideal intersession for juniors who would like to combine the early stages of the college search process with a fun-filled adventurous week visiting Vermont and Montreal! Our tour of schools will range from large, comprehensive universities (University of Vermont and McGill University in Montreal, Canada) to small, liberal arts colleges (Bennington, Champlain, and Middlebury Colleges.) The visits will include walking tours of campus, information sessions, and, when possible, sitting in on a class or having a meal on campus. Participation in several workshops leading up to the Intersession will enable students to learn more about their own personalities and learning styles, and reflect on what college setting might be best for them. These workshops also build cohesiveness within the group that will come in handy as we experience long (beautiful) drives to and from SSFS, share rooms in a variety of hotels and B&Bs, and hit the slopes for spectacular skiing and snowboarding. Exploring the quaint Vermont towns along our tour will ultimately lead to a two-day visit to Montreal, one of the most vibrant, sophisticated, and international cities in the world! Criteria for selection: Seniors and sophomores are also eligible for this Intersession. If needed, selections will be made through a random lottery process. * RIVERS AND STREAMS - John Fuller & Gwen Handler, Service Intersession and Natural Science, 12 Students, 5 Days, $175 The group will focus on learning about river and stream eco-systems and what steps are necessary to restore their health. Our case study will be in our own backyard -- the Patuxent River system and the nearby WSSC reservoirs. Our field study of this watershed will include the plants, animals, and forest systems of the area and how to sustain and restore their health to guarantee fresh water. Each day will involve local travel to a site in the Patuxent Watershed to collect and remove trash, to plant trees and other vegetation or to explore and understand the workings of the watershed itself. The group will spend part of a day watching and fishing the shad runs near Bowie, MD, 2 days canoeing the reservoirs, and possibly visit a hatchery that raises fish (most likely trout) during the winter for release in the spring. Each day will be spent outdoors somewhere in the river system; hip boots and hot lunch provided! Each student will receive 20 hours of community service time to go towards their community service Intersession requirement. Criteria for selection: Students should be interested in environmental science and ecology and be willing to work outside every day for the entire project. Students should be interested in boating - canoeing or kayaking, be willing to work hard, get wet, and have loads of fun doing it! If needed, selections will be made through a random lottery process. BEACHING IT IN BAJA, THE OTHER CALIFORNIA - Lori Gravley-Novello & Shinae Byhouwer, 18 Students, 8 days, $1800 We will join Rebecca Scotti, SSFS alum, and her tour company Journey Mexico on this off-the-beaten-path adventure that visits both the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez coastlines of Baja California, Mexico. We will hike the petroglyphs in Mexico's central desert. We will see some of the last mating and calving grounds of the Pacific Gray Whale. We will visit sea turtles and secluded beaches. We will learn about the Mexican economy, touring local craft operations and fisheries and learn about the threats to the Mexican economy and the promising programs to improve the economy. We will study the rich cultural of heritage of the indigenous Mexican tribes. Criteria for Selection: We will look for a mix across grades and genders. The ideal student for this trip will be comfortable in the outdoors and be interested in becoming a more informed global citizen. The trip is great for Spanish students, but language study is not a criteria for selection. If needed, selections will be made through a random lottery process. AMAZON RAINFOREST WORKSHOP - Laurel Flyer & Bruce Evans, 16 Students, 8 Days, $2,800 Unique, active and fun! This expedition is an eye-opening introduction to the environment and cultural aspects of the Amazon Rainforest and river system. The itinerary is interdisciplinary, reinforcing science, geography, language, art and other subjects. Through field experiences at four rainforest lodge facilities in the Amazon basin of Northern Peru, you are engaged in an immersion experiences that includes walks on the Rainforest Canopy Walkway, river trips to bird watch and study the ecology of the area, interaction with the indigenous people, hikes through the Amazon, and community service in remote villages. This is a non-stop workshop full of once-in-a-lifetime experience, but has some special considerations in terms of cost, health and safety. Interested students should read and discuss the program overview with their parents or guardians. Criteria for selection: This trip is for adventurous, self-reliant and responsible students, who have a real desire to learn about the rainforest, adapt to a new culture and who can live for a week without electricity, cell phones, automobiles, hair dryers or indoor plumbing. We are looking for students with enthusiasm for ecological studies and a desire to enjoy friendly interactions with locals. If you are willing to get up early and go bird watching on the Amazon River, hike through the jungle at night looking for bioluminescent fungi, lose in soccer to the local kids and live without junk food and your hair dryer for a week, we welcome you. If needed, selections will be made through a lottery process.
|
|
