Spring Intensives Begin at Upper School

From Entrepreneurship to Honors Chemistry, and from the Gates Mills Campus to Harbin, China, Upper School students are engaged in Intensives - three weeks of in-depth study on a single subject.

Made possible by the Upper School’s unique schedule, Intensives are designed to enhance understanding by giving students the opportunity to study outside traditional classroom walls. Now in its third year, the three-week courses use hallmark activities including fieldwork, research, excursions and presentations in order to achieve deeper understanding of their selected topics of study.

The Intensive course curriculum spans all departments, including the humanities, languages, mathematics, visual and performing arts and sciences. Occurring in the fall and spring each year, courses being offered during the Spring 2013 Intensives include:

• The Wild – a course bringing together literature of the wilderness, leadership training, personal reflection, backcountry experience and non-fiction writing
• 9th-Grade Humanities
• 10th-Grade Humanities
• English 11
• Systems and Sustainability: Agriculture and the Local Economy – What is a good, clean and fair food system, and how can we help to achieve one?
• Chemistry
• Chemistry Honors
• Spanish 3 Honors
• Chinese Immersion – students travel to China to study at Heilongjiang University. Visit their blog /hawken.blog.sohu.com.
• Ohio and the American Experience – an examination of Ohio’s history as a reflection of a larger national story
• An Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Honors Credit – experiential focus on how to develop an idea and make it marketable
• United States History – an examination of political, economic, social and cultural forces from the Age of Discovery to modern America
• Cleveland Arts – students are immersed in theater, dance, music, and visual arts through field trips to museums and theaters, hands-on experiences with visiting artists, and individual and team hands-on projects