New and Notable
For those of you who read my late December article about
For those of you who read my late December article about the holiday season, you may find it impossible to believe that this exact week (the third week of March) trumps that time of year and any other as my favorite. No, it is not because of March Madness. Although, if a certain crimson-colored team had pulled an upset yesterday I might have changed my tune. I know our dearest headmaster would feel the same if his Boilermakers had found the bottom of the net in the waning seconds yesterday. No, March 16-20th is not my favorite because of the tourney, nor is it because I get to observe the students’ annual excitement over the local ice cream barn’s opening weekend. Honestly, it’s a melee to sign up. It isn’t because the first day of spring is nearly upon us either. It is because the New and Notable Courses for next academic year are released.
To some, this may be a sad state of affairs for the things that I see as highlights in my daily life. I wouldn’t disagree. Yet, this course release highlights all of the creativity and thought our faculty put into creating new and unique opportunities to present material and share dialogue on particular subjects. I'm always intrigued to view it and see what they've created. It also preempts scheduling selections which will take place in the coming weeks and offers us our first official opportunity to shift thinking to the following year. Selfishly, I get to fantasize about the time between now and then, the warmer weather ahead, our summer program, a few Saturday golf excursions, EHS’s work with the Worcester Public Schools every August, and the more immediate collaboration with a handful of kids to craft their academic plan for the coming year. It is exciting for them as well – admittedly, to a lesser degree. One even told me this morning that my feelings about this "are scary lame."
If you too have as demented a sense of enjoyment as I do, or are simply curious about what courses are being offered next year, please feel free to look at the attached Course Selection Guide (Course Catalog 2015-16.pdf) and New and Notables (New and Notable Courses 2015-2016.pdf) documents. You can also find links by logging into the parent portal. Enjoy!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Chris