Upper School Intersession 2025

This class will cover each piece individually: cases where it is strong, cases where it is weak, and how to make your own pieces powerful and your opponent's pieces weak.

Prerequisite: Familiarity with all rules of chess including checkmate, castling, and en passant. Familiarity with chess notation is helpful.

Create beautiful art on canvas, using melted beeswax, mulberry paper, tissue, sewing patterns, and found images.
You will complete one canvas with the option to do a second one, time allowing. Participants are encouraged to bring a photocopy of a personal drawing, photo, or quote which they can incorporate into the composition Fun process and accessible technique!

App and website developers must consider a number of privacy, safety and security questions, in addition to building an engaging product experience. Are there any limits to the types of data I can collect in my app, or how I can use it? When do I need to ask permission, and how can I get it without creating friction that stops people from using my innovative product? How do I protect people who use my app from bots, hackers and other common online threats? An increasing number of laws in California, the US and around the globe require privacy and security by design - the idea that evaluating privacy and security risks and requirements, and designing solutions, must be a core part of the product development process.

We will discuss the basic privacy and security requirements and considerations when designing apps and websites and look at the design choices of popular apps and platforms -- including TikTok, Zoom, and Apple. We will then review several hypothetical app experiences and discuss the best choices for user privacy, safety and product experience.

Check out how your parents played with computers from the late 1970's to the mid-'80s on original, working machines (IBM, Apple 2, Commodore 64, Osborne...), many of which were developed right here in Silicon Valley. They were heavy, noisy and clunky, but they spurred the personal computing revolution.

But not just video games - try your skills in programming, see if you can produce cool pictures using exotic pen plotters and dot matrix printers, and learn how these devices from the past worked, how to fix them, and how much people actually got done with them!

If you are interested in healthcare and/or dermatology, this is the workshop for you! The Interactive Technology for Skin: Community Outreach, Research, and Education (iTS-CORE) workshop is an exciting, hands-on experience where you’ll come visit the Stanford campus to get an inside look into healthcare and dermatology. This is a unique opportunity to explore your curiosity through different stations that cover everything from career journeys to cool skin science. Here’s what’s in store:

1. Healthcare Career Panel: Meet medical students, nurses, and physicians who will share their journeys in healthcare — hear about the multiple paths or career changes to medicine/healthcare and how everyone has a unique and inspiring story!

2. Skin Health Basics: Discover the science of your skin! You’ll learn how melanin plays a role in skin health, what causes acne (and how to manage it), and why sun protection is important for everyone.

3. Hands-On Dermatology: Step into a dermatologist's shoes by practicing with the tools they use everyday – look at your skin with a dermatoscope, practice punch biopsies, and dive into our augmented/virtual reality dermatology game to learn about skin cancer and smart sun habits.
4. Optional Lab Tour: Pending time, we will take a tour of an active Stanford lab working on bacteriophages.

There is no prerequisite skills or knowledge needed to participate in this experience.

This session is OFF CAMPUS and hosted at Stanford. Transportation will be provided by Nueva.

Create your own hot glass experience in this hands-on hot glass class. Blow, shape, and color your project. Explore the technical and the artistic basics of glass working in this fast-paced beginner's class.

You probably know how to play poker, but what about classic strategy card games like Hearts, Spades, Euchre and Oh Hell!? If you’ve never played or just want to refresh yourself on the gameplay and get some practice, come join us…

Most of these games date back hundreds of years and have survived the test of time because they’re so well designed and so fun. We’ll talk about the rules and mechanics of each game, how to bid and score, and some basic strategy considerations. We’ll play a few hands of each and you can decide for yourself which is/are your favorite(s).

This will be a really relaxing way to learn some new games that you can play with family and friends. No prior experience playing cards is needed but we’ll send around a few videos in advance for folks to have some context coming in. And if you have the competitive spirit, we’ll be hosting a second session later this day that offers the chance to play full rounds in a friendly tournament.

Feel free to email Dan Bomze (dbomze@gmail.com) if you have any questions in advance of signing up

From street safety and awareness to full-force self-defense techniques, this 2.5-hour class lays a foundation of skills including intuition, situational awareness, body language and voice proven effective at increasing safety and confidence. Participants practice de-escalating dangerous situations, and get the unique and powerful experience of practicing physical techniques at full force in safe and realistic scenarios against a padded mock assailant.

This class is led by a Whistle Instructor, who is the lead coach, and a Suited Instructor, who plays the role of mock assailant and wears a padded suit to allow students to hit full force. Physical techniques include defending against attacks from the front, being grabbed from behind, and an introduction to fighting from the ground. You'll leave this class feeling strong and maybe surprised by your own power and courage!

There could not be a better time to study our criminal justice system. We are experiencing a time of significant change (much of it long in coming frankly). Each of you, as community members, can be a part of making those changes positive ones and I hope this seminar will help to inspire you to do just that. So... on to a few basic pieces of information about the seminar:

1. What are we going to be talking about?
The session will cover two primary areas: crime and criminal justice and our criminal justice system. We will be discussing things like: "why does crime exist?" and “is crime getting worse” and "why is there such a disconnect between communities and their police" and "do we really need police” and “do district attorneys and defense attorneys hate each other as much as they seem to on TV?" and, if time allows, "what on earth is going on with our prisons in the United States!? Why do we lock more people up than any other country?"...

Are you intrigued? Good!

We will be talking about current events and I recommend that you start plugging into news feeds from a variety of sources and perspectives. If you take the time to check out the news what we discuss will mean a whole lot more to you.

2. Will Professor Raffaelli just be a talking head?
I sure hope not! Bring on those questions and we will dig into them… I welcome and appreciate student participation and hope you save me (and yourself) from me just prattling on the whole time by myself. The criminal justice system is interesting (really!) and I look forward to hearing from you. I also hope that this class will result in more than a few of you looking further into a career in criminal justice. It is one of the places in this world that gives you an opportunity to make a difference in your community and society. Corny as it sounds there really is no better satisfaction than finding ways to help other people.

Neuroscience is a relatively young field in biomedical research, but it has revolutionized our understanding of how humans and other organisms perceive and interact with the world. Additionally, neuroscience research has elucidated some of the mysteries of brain disease that have long since eluded the medical field. In this intersession course, students will take a survey of the world of neuroscience, with a focus on how the brain perceives and interacts with its environment.

The session will be divided into two parts: 1) a lecture-based survey of neuroscience that tracks the anatomy and physiology of how the brain processes visual stimuli and then plans and executes movements. The session will use the simple example of hitting a baseball to highlight the complex visual and motor computations that that the brain performs in less than a few tenths of a second. 2) The second half of the lesson will be a practical experiment where students will measure their own visual-motor reaction times and to use that data to estimate the speed at which information is processed in their brains and whether we can experimentally modulate information processing.

What if talking was just a small part of psychotherapy? What if your body held more wisdom than your mind? Or if a set of postcards could help you discover connections you never noticed before? In this session, you’ll explore various psychotherapeutic techniques that integrate somatic awareness and creative expression, tapping into the body’s innate wisdom as a powerful resource for deeper self-understanding.

In the final third of the session, you'll be introduced to the art and science of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), an evidence-based therapeutic approach that uses bilateral stimulation to help individuals process and heal.

This is an experiential session, so please come ready to move, engage, and be open. Participants will take part in both group and individual activities involving movement and art. Curiosity and kindness are encouraged!

Pandemics! Geopolitics! Economics! Bad behavior! These are turbulent times and businesses and other organizations are encountering lots of new challenges and even full-fledged disasters. When it all goes wrong, how should organizations think about communicating? What are the rules of the road? The common mistakes? Which audiences matter? What do you do when the New York Times calls or social media explodes? We'll talk about all of this and explore some scenarios.

Design, create and apply your own zombie makeup. Learn from Film FX Makeup Artist Elizabeth Fox how to make scary and gore heavy zombies. We’ll be using the same products used in feature films and television. You will learn the tips and techniques used by professionals. Not for the squeamish, this is Zombies like the pros make. We will be using non-latex prosthetics and build ups, fx makeup and work on zombie character creation. Up your halloween game, improve your short zombie films and scare the pants off your friends! A small makeup FX kit will be provided.

Guests will learn to spray paint and exercise their freedom of speech by designing and painting a group mural. Students will also create an individual artwork using custom stencils and spray paint. A presentation of the process of making a mural and QnA will accompany the hand on art activities.

Learn the secret to the bubbly, chewy Neapolitan-style pizza crust by making the dough from scratch! Then hand-stretch your own pizza crust before baking it in our outdoor pizza oven. Leave with a personal pizza and dough to bake another pizza at home.

*This class takes place OFF CAMPUS at Baking Arts in San Mateo. Transportation options include the CalTrain or driving (no Nueva van provided). This class is not suitable for students with nut allergies.

If you know how to play any (or all) of the classic card games Hearts, Spades, Euchre and/or Oh Hell!, come join us to test your skills against other Nuevans. We’ll be hosting a friendly tournament that promises to be a fun time and there will be prizes! 

We’ll take a poll of everyone who joins the session and can mix and match different games to create one or more tournaments that appeal to everyone.

Everyone is welcome, from beginner to advanced. And encourage your favorite faculty and staff members to join the action. If you have never played or are a bit rusty, please join the earlier session in the day where we’re teaching folks to play all these games. And we’ll also have some video refreshers available (and live “coaching”) if you have questions as you go.

Feel free to email Dan Bomze (dbomze@gmail.com) if you have any questions in advance of signing up

Check out how your parents played with computers from the late 1970's to the mid-'80s on original, working machines (IBM, Apple 2, Commodore 64, Osborne...), many of which were developed right here in Silicon Valley. They were heavy, noisy and clunky, but they spurred the personal computing revolution.

But not just video games - try your skills in programming, see if you can produce cool pictures using exotic pen plotters and dot matrix printers, and learn how these devices from the past worked, how to fix them, and how much people actually got done with them!

Do you want to learn how to train your teachers, your mom, and your dog? This seminar is all about learning how to understand and modify behavior. Animal behavior has fascinated humans throughout history. David and Lisa Jackson have trained everything from tigers to killer whales — and even their own parents — for over 35 years. Let them share their knowledge with you so you can create better relationships, happier pets, and less-annoying friends. This hands-on interactive experience will give you insight into how understanding behavior modification can positively change the world around you.

Where did the concept of a restaurant come from? When did fine dining become available to those outside of the aristocracy? You’ll get a short history of the modern restaurant, its origins, some of the milestones in modern cooking and construct your own high-end dessert from an assortment of provided ingredients.
 
We’ll cover:
·       The origins of restaurants: taverns, inns, cafes, boarding houses.
·       The rise of fine dining in the late 19th century.
·       The impact of California, farm-to-table and nouvelle cuisine.
·       How technology is impacting modern dining.
 
Short topics will also be:
·       Formal dining settings.
·       When to eat with your fingers.
·       You’d be crazy to be a part of this industry.
 
No prerequisite, just an interest in the restaurant and dining out culture.

Just like in college-level art school, we will spend our part of the day screen-free. We will start by learning about sticker culture, looking a great sticker art, talking about the importance of art in public spaces, and discovering what happens when we democratize our art for all to see. We will then start the design process by sketching multiple ideas, talking through our process, doing a real live art school critique, and choosing one idea to develop.

Then we jump off the paper. We will take an idea from part one, and bring it into the digital space. We will start by going over the basics of Adobe Illustrator software on your laptops. Then students will have the remaining time to work freely on their own projects. At the end of the class finished art will be "submitting to the printer" aka Christina. Finalized work will be printed by a professional printer and returned to the school when completed. Processing usually takes up to 2 weeks but ultimately students will have 25 die-cut vinyl stickers to give away, trade, or just have fun with.

In this session you'll learn how to design in-person storytelling games (including tabletop roleplaying games and larp). We'll play a few short games together and talk about processes and principles for game design. Then you'll design your own games and playtest them.

No prior play or design experience required.

Sarah Shourd is a lifelong social justice activist, somatic practitioner and a leader in the movement to create safer communities through Reimagining Justice outside prisons and jails. She is an award-winning investigative journalist, acclaimed Pulitzer-presented playwright, author, producer and filmmaker. In 2009, Sarah was living in Syria when she was captured near the unmarked Iran-Iraq border and imprisoned by the Iranian government incommunicado in solitary confinement for 410 days. Learn how this horrific experience became a springboard for Sarah’s work for healing, justice and collective liberation for the last 15 years, delving into the deeper implications of mass incarceration and the widespread use of solitary confinement in prisons across our country. How can we think outside of the harsh and brutal paradigm of punishment and control? How can we heal our communities and ourselves? See http://www.sarahshourd.com for more information.

Create your own hot glass experience in this hands-on hot glass class. Blow, shape, and color your project. Explore the technical and the artistic basics of glass working in this fast-paced beginner's class.

Do you love cheese? Under the guidance of Gillian Chao, founding member of the San Francisco League of Urban Cheesemakers, you will experience the entire cheesemaking process, starting from milk and ending with your very own batch of fromage frais, a delightfully creamy cow’s milk fresh cheese. Don't forget to bring your appetite! You'll also do some "learn by eating" as you sample a curated selection of several different kinds of cheeses, including some of Gillian's personal favorites.

Learn how to create realistic wounds for Film and Television. Join Makeup Artist Elizabeth Fox as we use professional grade products to make cuts, bruises and multiple other gore and wounds. Elizabeth will show you how to navigate using the correct product for the job. We will use silicone build ups for scaring and cuts, bruise wheels and tattoo palates to make burns and bruises and learn on set blood techniques, using multiple fake blood products. A small makeup FX kit will be provided.