Upper School Intersession 2025

Learn from activists across disciplines, from political leadership to social justice, as they reflect on their decades of experience and their perspectives on the future of social equity. If you’re interested in learning about grassroots organizing, community activism, or a career in public service, this panel is for you! Our speakers will include the executive director of Women’s Building SF, founder of FundHer Valerie McGinty, a local director of Public Allies (former collaborators with Michelle Obama), and other E&I leaders!

Can you pick the next president via looks alone? This course will explore whether voters can accurately predict politician competence and performance in office based on facial appearance alone. Research indicates that quick judgments about candidate appearance often predict election outcomes. Voters' response to facial appeal fits into broader concerns that citizens do not base their decisions on things that matter —policy and talent—but what appeals to their basic instincts.

You will investigate this facial phenomenon by examining recent studies and engaging in an in-class facial appearance study. We will ultimately review our own study and examine what it means for the future of democracy and what it tells us about our own concepts of fairness, prejudice, and leadership.

Some basic knowledge of the U.S. electoral process is helpful but not required.

How does the brain, a three-pound organ, give rise to all of the thoughts and feelings we experience everyday? How can new technologies such as virtual reality contribute to our understanding of the brain and human behavior?

This course will be an introduction to novel methods that scientists are using to learn about human cognition, emotion, and motivation. We begin the session by examining the the structure and function of the brain, and how scientists use neuroimaging to gain insight into the biological basis of behavior. We will then explore current methods like immersive virtual reality (VR), psychophysiological methods, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). We will conclude with a discussion about how to apply these new methods to open questions in psychology and neuroscience, as well as some crucial ethical considerations that arise when utilizing such approaches.

This workshop explores magic and witchcraft as tools of the radical imagination—experimental and empowering methods for challenging the dominant narratives and systems of control in our lives and “rewiring” reality itself. Together, we’ll examine these multifaceted concepts, tracing their evolution, cultural significance, and philosophical relevance to our world today. Students will explore the intersections of magic with politics, art, and psychology, and have a chance to craft their own “spells” to confront and transform the limiting structures they encounter in their lives. No previous knowledge of the subject matter will be expected. All are welcome.

The witch’s hat, towers and turrets, gingerbread latticework, and the attic. In the Victorian era, houses with these architectural details represented all the comforts associated with the American Dream. But by the 20th century, ornate Victorian homes began to warn us: something’s not right in there; something nefarious is lurking inside.
Why? 
In this session, we’ll take a ghost tour through the cultural history of Victorian architecture in America. With a little help from the Brothers Grimm, Shirley Jackson, Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock, and Sarah Winchester, we’ll explore what made these structures so iconically creepy.

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.

This session will modestly attempt to explain some of the forces that shape today's world through the study of maps. We will likely focus on 20th century and recent conflicts and look into their geography for answers to why these conflicts took place.