The View From Here: Getting Out There

Earlier this week, I was so fortunate to accompany our seniors on their class retreat on the American River. The trip was rescheduled from the beginning of the year—when the river was too low for rafting—and the conditions and weather were perfect for fun and adventure on the river. I enjoyed every minute of this two-day adventure as our seniors braved the rapids and celebrated together in one of our SA rites of passage with their classmates. We rafted, camped, cooked, and shared together in a trip that we will all remember for some time. 

Special thanks to all of our amazing staffulty organizers and chaperones—Darren, Jasmine, Laila, Rolando, Amber, and Cassidy—who made this such an unforgettable experience. It was so important to me to have this uninterrupted time to connect with our seniors as we head into our final weeks together. As I experienced with the AS Black America class over spring break when we traveled to Savannah, there is something incredibly impactful about the kind of learning, engagement, and connection that occurs when we get outside the classroom, away from campus, and out into the world together.

 

With our final exams and the academic heavy-lifting of the year complete, we have shifted our focus to Intersession, a critically important “outside the classroom/in the world” learning experience. Intersession is an eight-day period designed to give students opportunities for exploration, risk-taking, travel, community engagement, and leadership. During this time, students have the space and support to dig deeply into a subject they are already interested in or to explore a new area of possible interest as they expand their knowledge in an experiential way. Intersession courses are designed to be fun and engaging, encouraging students to experiment and discover in a way that cannot be accomplished during the normal school day. 

This exploration is not limited to students; Intersession offers our staffulty opportunities to teach new subjects and to pair up with partners from other disciplines. For example, French teacher Florence Rink and STEM teacher Jim Sweeney have teamed up to take over the teaching kitchen for a culinary journey “Around the World in 3.5 Days,” while our Librarian Michele Martin is working with Miles Levin ‘13 to bring the art of cheesemaking to our students, and Humanities teacher Kerry Hanlon and STEM teacher Cassidy Brown are taking students to new heights in Climbing. 

Our on-campus classes this year cover a broad array of subjects and interests, from fishing to fabric arts. The courses are decidedly “real world” in the sense that the learning and experiences take place in real-world environments and teach real-world skills. “On-campus” is a bit of a misnomer, because many of this year’s Intersession courses venture out into the world: ice skating and animation at the Charles Schulz Museum; exploring the nature of our region and angling local rivers; and taking in murals and graffiti art in Oakland and San Francisco.

Our students are also traveling for Intersession and they are experiencing unique and meaningful travel opportunities far from home. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, our Passport Program allows every Sonoma Academy student the chance to embark on an international trip during their time at SA. While the Passport Program was conceived to support international travel, this year’s Intersession trips are all domestic (to minimize potential Covid disruptions). These trips capture the heart of our program and they allow for students to more deeply engage with the world around them. Our students are participating in the following Passport Program trips: Leadership and Community Engagement trips in Puerto Rico and New Orleans, Sustainability in Alaska, and Mythology, Art, and Culture in Hawaii. 

Intersession is a time devoted to one of our deeply held values: students must be given opportunities to explore and to take risks in order to grow, thrive, and more fully understand themselves. No matter which Intersession course they choose, our students are inspired and challenged and, by the end of the course, they will emerge with a changed perspective and a deeper sense of self. We embrace and celebrate this process of challenge, experimentation, and accomplishment, and I cannot think of a better way to end our school year.