Upper School Intersession 2025: Full Schedule

November 21-30 – Sign-ups/changes open. After December 1, schedules will be frozen.

10:15am PST

Creative Hustle: Making Work that Matters SEATS AVAILABLE

Tuesday January 7, 2025 10:15am - 11:30am PST

"Nine to five is how to survive, I ain't trying to survive, I'm trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot.” - Jay Z

In the 23 years since Jay-Z first rapped this line, he has released 14 albums, founded a clothing company, served as president of a record label, taken charge of a media streaming service, and is raising three children. This is creative hustle at its peak - the unmarked process outside of institutions, beyond survival, and where our best innovation lives. There is creative hustle living inside us all -- many of us en route to our own peak without even knowing it. This experience explores how to build confidence and effective mindsets, develop industry-relevant skills, and increase access to valuable networks through the stories of a wide array of diverse hustlers, with enough space between the lines for you to see your own path.

Facilitators

Sam Seidel

Director of Products + Publications, and K12 Strategy, Stanford d.school

sam seidel is the Director of K12 Strategy + Research at the Stanford d.school and author of Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011). sam speaks internationally about education, race, culture, systems, and design.sam has taught in a variety of settings from first grade to community college. He has built and directed programs... Read More →

Olatunde Sobomehin

Stanford d.School, StreetCode Academy

Olatunde Sobomehin is the CEO and co-founder of StreetCode Academy, a Silicon Valley-based non-profit that offers free tech classes to communities of color. It serves over 3,000 students annually with over 50,000 hours of free instruction to date. As a student at Stanford, Olatunde... Read More →

Tuesday January 7, 2025 10:15am - 11:30am PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Equity and Social Justice, Business and Finance
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

12:35pm PST

The Power of the Word: Public Speaking Then and Now SEATS AVAILABLE

Tuesday January 7, 2025 12:35pm - 1:50pm PST

WRC

"Don’t tell me words don’t matter. I have a dream – just words words. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal – just words. We have nothing to fear but fear itself – just words, just speeches" (President Barack Obama).

Back in the day, in his first campaign for president, Barack Obama promised change; yet in formulating that promise he relied on rhetorical rules, which for more than 2000 years have remained unchanged. Across the ages another politician and orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, can help us analyze and appreciate Obama’s and other contemporary politicians’ rhetorical accomplishments.

We will look at excerpts from speeches by Obama, Bill Clinton, Pericles, Cicero, and Tacitus with an eye to their enactments of specific rhetorical rules–formulated in ancient times, followed to this day. Words have always mattered.

Facilitators

Christopher Krebs

Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, German Language and Literature, Stanford University

Christopher Krebs studied Classics and philosophy in Berlin, Kiel, and Oxford and taught at Harvard before joining Stanford's Classics Department, where he regularly teaches a Freshman Seminar on Ancient Rhetoric and its Contemporary Relevance and an Humanities Core class on Great... Read More →

Tuesday January 7, 2025 12:35pm - 1:50pm PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Literature/Communications/Performance, History
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

10:15am PST

Quantum Science and Technology LIMITED SEATS REMAIN

Wednesday January 8, 2025 10:15am - 11:30am PST

WRC

We will discuss how lasers, rather than blow stuff up, can cool atoms down to temperatures near absolute zero. At these temperatures, atoms can form macroscope waves that are the matter analog of lasers. Experiments can use these matter waves as emulators for studying quantum materials such as high-temperature superconductors. Moreover, laser-cooled atoms can serve as the key ingredient in quantum devices like sensors and computers. We'll present examples of what the new revolution in quantum science and engineering might bring.

Facilitators

Ben Lev

Physics Professor at Stanford

Benjamin Lev is a Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Princeton in 1999 and his Ph.D. from Caltech in 2005, both in physics. Benjamin has received a Packard Foundation Fellowship and the Presidential Early Career... Read More →

Wednesday January 8, 2025 10:15am - 11:30am PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Science
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

12:35pm PST

The Jugular Art: A Visual Romp through the History and Contemporary Craft of Political Cartooning SEATS AVAILABLE

Wednesday January 8, 2025 12:35pm - 1:50pm PST

WRC

Political cartoons have been part of public debates around the world for more than 250 years. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist David Horsey will take students on a visual journey through the history of political cartoons and then talk about his own career; how he creates cartoons, the presidents he has lampooned, the readers he has angered, the wild scenes he has observed -- all illustrated with copious examples of his award-winning cartoons.

Facilitators

David Horsey

The Seattle Times

David Horsey is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for The Seattle Times.

Wednesday January 8, 2025 12:35pm - 1:50pm PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Philosophy/Social Science/Law/Politics, Literature/Communications/Performance
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

1:55pm PST

Elements and the Universe SEATS AVAILABLE

Wednesday January 8, 2025 1:55pm - 3:10pm PST

WRC

Our Universe is 15 billion years old. In its early phases, it consisted of mainly hydrogen and helium, with only a small admixture of lithium. Yet today, when we look at our hand, we find it consists mainly of carbon and oxygen, a bit of hydrogen and nitrogen, plus some calcium present mainly in our bones. Those elements are crucial to the formation of life, but how and where did they form? In this lecture, presented on an introductory level, Dr. Madejski will talk about the history of elements and how they got dispersed into interstellar space via stellar explosions.

Facilitators

Greg Madejski

Stanford University

My English-speaking friends know me as Greg. I was born in Poland, but my college and graduate education was in the U.S., respectively at MIT and Harvard. After spending 14 years at NASA/Goddard, I arrived in Stanford in 2000. My research interests are mainly in extragalactic high-energy... Read More →

Wednesday January 8, 2025 1:55pm - 3:10pm PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Science
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

8:55am PST

Algorithmic Fairness, Safety, and Interpretability in Machine Learning SEATS AVAILABLE

Thursday January 9, 2025 8:55am - 10:10am PST

WRC

Thanks to significant advances in machine learning and data science, decision makers are embracing and employing advanced algorithms and statistical models to help with or fully automate difficult tasks across our society. With examples ranging from advertising and finance to healthcare and criminal justice, machine learning tools have become ubiquitous. While often providing significant improvements in speed and performance, these tools come with increased complexity that can make the decision making process opaque and difficult to evaluate. How did your model make that prediction? Why? Are the decisions that it makes fair? How can we quantify fairness? In this activity, we will discuss real-world examples of automated algorithmic decision making along with the practical and ethical problems they can face. We will explore the ideas of bias, fairness, safety, and interpretability.

Facilitators

Ben Seiler

Stanford University

Ben Seiler is a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Stanford School of Medicine. He specializes in developing and deploying interpretable statistical learning methods. As part of the Stanford Human Trafficking Data Lab, Ben currently... Read More →

Thursday January 9, 2025 8:55am - 10:10am PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Design Thinking/Technology/Engineering, Equity and Social Justice, Math and Games
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

10:15am PST

Climate Migration & Health in the United States SEATS AVAILABLE

Thursday January 9, 2025 10:15am - 11:30am PST

WRC

The climate crisis does not affect all people equally. In this session, we will cover how climate emergencies and extremes magnify pre-existing vulnerabilities, increasing migration and expanding health disparities. We will define three types of climate migrants who are arriving in the United States and evaluate the health risks that they face before, during, and after their migrations.

Facilitators

Claire Seda

Migrant Clinicians Network

Claire Hutkins Seda is Director of Communications at Migrant Clinicians Network, a national nonprofit that is building practical solutions at the intersection of migration, vulnerability, and health. Claire is a writer and editor primarily focused on environmental degradation and... Read More →

Thursday January 9, 2025 10:15am - 11:30am PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Environmental Citizenship, Equity and Social Justice, Global Citizenship, Philosophy/Social Science/Law/Politics
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

12:35pm PST

Drawing Apart: A Cartoonist Illustrates How America's Political Divide Became a Chasm SEATS AVAILABLE

Thursday January 9, 2025 12:35pm - 1:50pm PST

WRC

American society has become so politically divided that some people talk seriously about the possibility of a second civil war. How did a once united country get to this crisis point? As a journalist and cartoonist, David Horsey has observed the evolution of politics in the United States since the election of Ronald Reagan. With his political cartoons as satiric guideposts, he will lay out the descending path Americans have taken into the political chasm -- essential knowledge for anyone who wants to understand contemporary political life in the United States.

Facilitators

David Horsey

The Seattle Times

David Horsey is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for The Seattle Times.

Thursday January 9, 2025 12:35pm - 1:50pm PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Philosophy/Social Science/Law/Politics, History
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

1:55pm PST

Advocating for Reproductive Autonomy & Justice to Advance Global Gender Equality SEATS AVAILABLE

Thursday January 9, 2025 1:55pm - 3:10pm PST

WRC

The Global Justice Center is a feminist human rights organization started by the late reproductive rights advocate Janet Benshoof. GJC’s mandate is to leverage international law to advance gender equality. Toward that end, GJC focuses on two main areas: advancing reproductive autonomy as an international human right and ensuring justice for mass atrocities involving sexual and gender-based crimes. Learn how Global Justice Center conducts this crucial work, including through innovative legal analysis, advocacy with governments, and press work. Signature campaigns--including to achieve a global convention on crimes against humanity, pierce pervasive impunity for widespread sexual and gender based crimes in Myanmar, and for access to safe abortion is a fundamental right--will be discussed.

Facilitators

Elise Keppler

Global Justice Center

Elise Keppler is executive director of the Global Justice Center. Prior to joining GJC, Elise worked in the International Justice Program of Human Rights Watch from 2003 to 2024, and worked half-time in Human Rights Watch’s General Counsel’s Office from 2020 to 2023. Elise also... Read More →

Thursday January 9, 2025 1:55pm - 3:10pm PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Equity and Social Justice, Global Citizenship, Philosophy/Social Science/Law/Politics
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

8:55am PST

Panel: Social Activism Leadership SEATS AVAILABLE

Friday January 10, 2025 8:55am - 10:10am PST

WRC

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!

Moderators

Lara McDowell

12th Grade Student, The Nueva School

Since our founding in 2014, the Nueva Feminism and Gender Equity Club has been working to dismantle sexism and gender bias in our community and beyond. We're so excited to welcome you to our speaker series at Intersession, and we hope you'll join us for our other initiatives throughout... Read More →

Friday January 10, 2025 8:55am - 10:10am PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Equity and Social Justice, Global Citizenship, Philosophy/Social Science/Law/Politics
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

10:15am PST

Panel: Women In Tech SEATS AVAILABLE

Friday January 10, 2025 10:15am - 11:30am PST

WRC

Women represent only 25% of the workforce of major technology companies. Women were also disproportionately affected by pandemic-driven spikes in global unemployment and reductions in labor force participation. What does this mean for young women trying to enter the tech industry? What struggles do women face and how can leaders in the field make change to these inequities? This is a special opportunity to hear from three women who have spent their careers in tech. Topics to be covered include tips for getting started in the tech industry, obstacles that women may face, career advice; and more. Don't miss out on hearing from these industry leaders. Questions and audience participation encouraged!

Panelists:

Monica Ea Chander – Senior Director of Product Marketing at Meta
Deepa Diwakar – Director of Engineering at Meta
Erica Lockheimer – Founder, Investor, Podcaster. Formerly: VP of Engineering of LinkedIn

Moderators

Giovanni Iachello

12:35pm PST

Conversation and Q&A with Bestselling Author Jasmine Guillory SEATS AVAILABLE

Friday January 10, 2025 12:35pm - 1:50pm PST

WRC

Hear from New York Times-bestselling author Jasmine Guillory as she reads an excerpt from her latest book. After, she'll open up space for a Q&A.

Facilitators

Jasmine Guillory

Author

Dubbed “the undisputed queen of the modern-day romance” (Vogue), Jasmine Guillory is the beloved New York Times-bestselling author of several romance novels, including The Wedding Date, The Proposal, While We Were Dating, and more. A former writer for The Toast and a regular... Read More →

Friday January 10, 2025 12:35pm - 1:50pm PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Literature/Communications/Performance
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents

1:55pm PST

Innovation, Science, and FDA: How Do New Medicines Get To Patients? SEATS AVAILABLE

Friday January 10, 2025 1:55pm - 3:10pm PST

WRC

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.

Facilitators

Thomas Chalberg

Founder & Managing Director, Polymerase Capital

Thomas W. Chalberg, PhD is an investor, scientist, and biotechnology entrepreneur. He is currently Managing Director of Polymerase Capital, where his investments have included Genascence Corporation and Exhaura. Prior to this, Dr. Chalberg was the Founder & CEO of SightGlass Vision... Read More →

Friday January 10, 2025 1:55pm - 3:10pm PST
WRC

1 Block

Content Category Human Biology and Medicine, Business and Finance, Philosophy/Social Science/Law/Politics
Audience Open to Alumni, Open to Parents