Social Justice

Taught by Paloma Connolly, this one semester class asks “How can we bring about a better world?” and attempts to answer this question through a series of case studies on social movements in the United States, with an emphasis on the Labor Movement and Civil Rights Movement. You will put yourself in the position of activists, labor organizers, workers and students, to debate the questions that real

people and organizations have faced throughout American history. This interactive class is predominantly made up of role plays and simulations, where our study of an event in history is paired with full class debates on strategy and tactics and attempts to make organizing decisions together for hypothetical and historical situations. Other class activities include creative projects and media analysis including films and photography.

​

Psychology

Taught by Dr. Tricia Valeski, this course explores various topics as an introduction to general psychology. The classroom environment will be heavily Socratic, one in which student interests will be discovered through readings, videos and lectures, and cultivated in both a self-directed and community learning environment. Because psychology involves the contemplation of the self as well as awareness of our interactions with and perspectives of the world, we will all put a premium on compassion and openness during discussions, and we will aim to create a class environment in which everyone feels comfortable and accepted. While we will follow a general sequence of topics, the scope and depth in which we cover the material will be heavily influenced by student interests.

​

Philosophy

Taught by Morgan Brown, this class will enable you to follow many of the greatest thinkers from history as they explored the nature of knowledge and reality. We will study and debate what it means to exist and to have beliefs and knowledge of our world and ourselves. We will extend those topics to the ideas of religion and ethics in an attempt to uncover meaning and purpose behind our actions and the workings of nature. We will then extend our thinking, tying together multiple topics as we explore artificial intelligence and other selected topics from

a philosophical perspective. Throughout, the focus of the course will be on analyzing, thinking critically, and expressing our ideas clearly and humbly while providing a

compassionate audience and sounding board for our peers’ viewpoints. Together, we might be able to reinforce our own understanding, convince others of the soundness of our views, or just maybe, adopt some new perspectives of our own.​​​​