Upper School Intersession 2025

Shein seemingly came out of nowhere during COVID, becoming the #1 most downloaded shopping app in 61 countries (including the U.S.) and growing from less than $1B to over $20B in sales in the U.S. in only a few years.   

- How did Shein achieve such a meteoric rise? 
- How can Shein get you such fashionable looks for so cheap? How do they make money?
- Can they sustain this success even with regulatory and ethical pressure?

Through the lens of Shein, learn about how different types of fashion retailers design and source products and get them from overseas to your closet - and how they make money! We will also discuss regulatory and ethical issues in fashion, including labor and environmental practices. 

If you own anything from Shein bring it to class so we can use some real-life examples!

It takes an average of $1.3 billion and more than 10 years to bring a new medicine to the point of applying for FDA approval. After pursuing this long and often tortuous path, the prospects are risky, and the FDA faces a binary choice: Grant marketing authorization, or reject the application?

What does the drug development process entail, and why is it so long, expensive, and complex? What is FDA's role in protecting American consumers and the public? How are the concepts of "benefit" and "risk" used to provide a framework for these decisions?

In this interactive session, you will learn the basics of the drug development process, including the role of the FDA in deciding whether to allow access to new drugs. Students will work in groups to evaluate whether a new drug should be "approved", and, if so, under what conditions.