Upper School Intersession 2025

Join us for a workshop designed to equip you with the skills and strategies needed to navigate difficult conversations across lines of difference. This session highlights the importance of engaging in these conversations and provides a comprehensive overview of the techniques and mindsets that lead to productive disagreements. You will also leave with an individual game plan for tackling an important personal or professional disagreement.

You have probably heard about the importance of fair pay - but what does that mean and who decides what is fair? In this class you'll learn about how companies get market information about pay rates, how they set a pay philosophy, and how they then apply these both to determining the right amount and type of pay to offer a candidate for a job. We'll start by understanding job descriptions, job titles, job levels, and some basic laws about pay. We'll then learn about salary, bonus, and equity compensation. We'll talk about negotiation approaches and how to determine what is most important for you, based on your personal priorities. Finally we'll practice all of these learnings with a few sample pay negotiations.

What do Theranos, WeWork, Uber, FTX, Boeing, and Wells Fargo all have in common?  All of these were high profile and high performing companies that became embroiled in scandal, after some previously hidden information became publicly known - and some of these companies survived and others did not.  How does a company that employs hundreds or thousands of well-intentioned people end up breaking laws or behaving unethically?  Can you picture yourself working at a company like this and if you came across something that looked potentially unethical, how would you respond?  

In this session we'll discuss a few case studies of companies that were viewed in high regard before they came undone.  We’ll seek to understand what elements of the company culture, leadership, and other factors led to the circumstances.  We will learn about which companies were able to recover and which could not.  We will then review some key principles and frameworks of business and leadership ethics, then put our thinking to the test with a simulation of an ethical dilemma.

This workshop will help students understand and analyze the difference between a variety of different martial arts forms as well as a bit of their history as well. Students will learn basic self defense principles and good practices for self improvement. We will break down the differences between various martial arts forms and their pros/cons, so students can help find out which martial art might be best for them.

This will be an overview of many martial arts conceptually, with a focus on jiu jitsu and Muay Thai based self defense. A combination of analysis, history, technique study, and practical application.

When people think of “networking,” they imagine attending social events to meet the right people to advance their careers while exchanging business cards. The reality is that building relationships leads to making meaningful connections that happen in both personal and professional settings. 

Instead of thinking about networking as making a business connection, think about it as creating a friendship. Demonstrate interest in others to build relationships in the same way you would make a friend through The FACE Framework: Familiarity, Authenticity, Curiosity, and Elasticity. You are the FACE of your organization!

This session will include storytelling to demonstrate each element of FACE. There will also be an activity called “Speed Friending” that encourages audience members to find what they have in common as they learn about each other for who they are.