Upper School Intersession 2025

What do self-driving cars, Alexa, iPhone's face recognition technology, and ChatGPT have in common? They are driven by modern advances in artificial intelligence. Whether you’re interested in law, healthcare, art, or economics, AI is poised to transform every discipline and industry in the future. AI is already all around us today, and by the end of the program, students will understand the underlying concepts and motivations behind technology such as computer vision, natural language processing, and neural networks.
 
In this course, we will explore the foundations of machine learning and explore different applications of machine learning models. In the first half of the course, students learn AI’s core technologies including applications, foundational concepts, and programming tools through live lectures and coding labs. Students will not only learn about different types of machine learning models but also apply those models to real data sets. In the second half of the course, students will complete an instructor-led group project applying AI to the discipline of their choice (e.g., music, healthcare, astrophysics, finance, etc.), utilizing the programming skills they developed in the first half.

Please read more here!

Course Structure

Machine Learning Talks
Learn about machine learning algorithms and techniques in a uniquely interactive, engaging format, before you apply that knowledge in live coding labs.

Hands-On Python Coding
Develop valuable skills in Python, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in our hands-on coding labs, using cutting-edge research to solve real-world problems like breast cancer diagnosis, building self-driving cars, and more.

Project-Based Learning
In our AI for Social Good project, students will be able to apply their newly acquired talents in a collaborative, challenging environment, applying AI to a domain they’re passionate about (e.g., music, healthcare, astrophysics, finance, etc.). Students can use these projects in their résumés and college applications.

"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.

I will talk about why there is often a shift which states are "swing states" over time, as well as how politicians choose certain topics & themes to focus on in their campaigns based on what is politically viable. Example questions include: How did Barack Obama carry several states that are now considered strongly Republican? Aside from purely just changes in public opinion, why do political parties shift their political stances over time? This session will be taught in a non-partisan fashion and is intended to teach students about the salience of political issues and how campaigning works from a calculated standpoint.

You may have heard about Jackie Robinson and his breaking of the color barrier in baseball, but have you heard the history of the Negro Leagues and how baseball was segregated in the first place? Can you name some women baseball players who were also Negro League stars (yes, they could play baseball in the Negro Leagues even if not for Major League Baseball)? Did you know that baseball was one of the incarceration camp sports for Japanese Americans during World War II?

If these questions sound interesting and you'd like to learn more, please come join an interactive discussion about the history of baseball in America that you may not have heard before, focusing on the Negro Leagues and baseball in the wartime incarceration camps. We'll be using books that involve primary sources to build our knowledge of this part of our country's history, and think about how this impacts sports as we watch and understand them today. After we do our deep dive into baseball, we'll discuss more broadly how resistance and joy show up as social movements in other sports as well, and how those tools can be used in the future.

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!

Students will be provided a one-hour orientation tour, and then will help with Farm Chores, Animal Socialization, and general AAH Smile Farm projects including some maintenance of the AAH Smile Farm. Student Volunteers should register in advance on the AAH website: https://www.animalassistedhappiness.org/youth-individual. Animal Assisted Happiness Smile Farm is located at Baylands Park, 999 E Caribbean Drive, Closed toed shoes are required while volunteering. It is recommended that volunteers where long pants and long sleeves; dress in layers for the weather.

This visit will count toward the volunteer orientation and qualify volunteers to help with future AAH Smile Farm visits serving youth with needs and Vocational Education programs.

I will talk about why there is often a shift which states are "swing states" over time, as well as how politicians choose certain topics & themes to focus on in their campaigns based on what is politically viable. Example questions include: How did Barack Obama carry several states that are now considered strongly Republican? Aside from purely just changes in public opinion, why do political parties shift their political stances over time? This session will be taught in a non-partisan fashion and is intended to teach students about the salience of political issues and how campaigning works from a calculated standpoint.

In this interactive session, participants will discuss some of the legal and policy issues underlying free speech and privacy rights, and the potential conflicts between the two with the rise of new technologies like the Internet.  Real-life cases brought by the ACLU will be used to illustrate how public interest litigation cases are developed to create and change laws, and the potential clashes that can occur between competing civil rights and policy goals.

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.

Jeremiah and Jacquie Robison will lead students through their experiences as 9th grader, Sofia Robison's parents. Sofia received a diagnosis of cerebral palsy when she was just over one year old.

Jacquie saw the inequity/gaps that exist with disability inclusion, and launched the multi-national nonprofit, WAWOS (We're All Working On Something). Their mission is to disrupt the narrative around physical disability in kids + teens, promote access to adventure for all abilities, and advocate inclusion. Her engagement will empower students to consider the social change they want to see, and lead them through steps to either partner with existing orgs or build mission statements, draft bylaws, apply for nonprofit status etc to build community for strong impact

Jeremiah, as a serial entrepreneur and technologist, was frustrated by the lack of tools to address mobility impairments (why have we not moved beyond walkers and wheelchairs?), and launched VC-backed CIONIC, to build bionic clothing. They have built an FDA-cleared Neural Sleeve (lower limb) that combines motor learning with functional electrical stimulation to activate the necessary muscles precisely coordinated in the gait cycle. Jeremiah will guide students through approaches to apply technology/innovation to solve a problem.

Prepare to practice the art of politics in the Civic Mirror® political role-playing game. You will inhabit a country modeled after the U.S. and will have an opportunity to manage a business, run for office, and serve on a jury. If someone sues you or charges you with a crime, you will be put on trial. You will need to find a way to keep the members of your family alive (provide them with food, shelter, medical care, etc.) while pursuing your "hidden agenda" (secret goals). You will work through the real-life challenges and trade-offs necessary to enact legislation in a country where people's goals are often in conflict.

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.

Structural inequities and racism create significan health impacts on migrants in the United States, including asylum seekers, short-term authorized workers like farmworkers, and unauthorized residents. In this session, we will evaluate some of the social structures that have produced and maintain modern social inequities as well as health disparities. Students will learn to assess the structural processes that are at play for migrant populations, how these processes affect their health, and efforts in the US to reduce these health barriers.

Museums curate and display human remains in order to research the past and to educate the public. But it has come to light that many of the individuals on display might not have considered the museum to be their ideal final resting place. Adding in individual and indigenous voices problematises the concept of curation of human remains, but many archaeologists see us on a path we can’t retreat from without radically changing the field. Museum visitors also expect to see skeletons, and most find it part of their education - and often inspires them to go into research of medicine. Additionally, ancient cultures and modern society have radically different views of the afterlife, consent, and burial practices that are often at odds with each other. In this session we’ll learn about and debate these differing views.

Key questions: How can we as curators and archaeologists balance these different value systems? Do the dead have a voice, and what would they argue for? What are some of the arguments for and against keeping human remains on a case-by-case basis? How can we develop more complex arguments than "I wouldn't want that to happen to my body" when all of our ideas of our bodies are different?

Part of a series: “Ethical issues in archaeology." Students are invited to attend one or more sessions in this series by Stacy.

In this session, we will be viewing images of ancient human remains and will be discussing death.

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.

In this session, students will be able to explore the basics of thoughtful charitable giving and the impact of philanthropy on social issues. Through interactive discussion and a case study, participants will learn how to identify key social challenges, evaluate nonprofit organizations through due diligence, and consider how individual giving can make a meaningful difference. By the end of this session, students will gain an understanding of strategic philanthropy and practical insights into making a positive impact in their communities.

The way we view science and the past has been strongly informed by scientific research that did not have good intentions, and did not view humans across the globe as equals. In the past 15 years, archaeologists and museum researchers have been trying to identify how ideas of inequality and superiority have affected our understanding of the past, using archaeology as a tool of empire and European supremacy. This session covers how European researchers used their colonial view of their own high intelligence to build up a scientific practice that reinforced their role as “objective”, and how that view permeates science today, including AI and data science. The session aims to deconstruct some of the myths of science as fully objective, identify ways to break down these concepts, and figure out how science can move forward with inclusive research. We will discuss archaeological theories and developments that led to our current understanding of non-objectivity and decolonising praxis.

Key questions: What role did scientists’ belief in their objectivity influence the kinds of research they practiced? How can we practice science today without falling into the same traps?

Part of a series: “Ethical issues in archaeology." Students are invited to attend one or more sessions in this series by Stacy.

In this session, we will be discussing facets of science that can be uncomfortable in the interest of learning and understanding.

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.

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.

We now know that sex and gender are an interrelated spectrum. These are reflected in the way archaeologists view skeletons, and helps to problematise our view of sex and gender concepts and roles in ancient societies. This session will teach methods used to perform scientific sex assessments and the ways we use that and other archaeological indicators to suggest gender. From there, we will discuss and problematise the ways that sex and gender have been discussed in archaeology, and how that has impacted the public understanding of ancient societies.

Key questions: Were women always confined to domestic spaces? Were men always hunters? Is there archaeological evidence for trans, non-binary, and other gender identities across the ancient world? How have researchers misidentified sex and gender of archaeological individuals, and how does this change our understanding of their identities and societies?

Part of a series: “Ethical issues in archaeology." Students are invited to attend one or more sessions in this series by Stacy.
In this session, we will be viewing images of ancient human remains.

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

The way we view science and the past has been strongly informed by scientific research that did not have good intentions, and did not view humans across the globe as equals. In the past 15 years, archaeologists and museum researchers have been trying to identify how ideas of inequality and superiority have affected our understanding of the past, using archaeology as a tool of empire and European supremacy. This session covers how European researchers used their colonial view of their own high intelligence to build up a scientific practice that reinforced their role as “objective”, and how that view permeates science today, including AI and data science. The session aims to deconstruct some of the myths of science as fully objective, identify ways to break down these concepts, and figure out how science can move forward with inclusive research. We will discuss archaeological theories and developments that led to our current understanding of non-objectivity and decolonising praxis.

Key questions: What role did scientists’ belief in their objectivity influence the kinds of research they practiced? How can we practice science today without falling into the same traps?

Part of a series: “Ethical issues in archaeology." Students are invited to attend one or more sessions in this series by Stacy.

In this session, we will be discussing facets of science that can be uncomfortable in the interest of learning and understanding.

We now know that sex and gender are an interrelated spectrum. These are reflected in the way archaeologists view skeletons, and helps to problematise our view of sex and gender concepts and roles in ancient societies. This session will teach methods used to perform scientific sex assessments and the ways we use that and other archaeological indicators to suggest gender. From there, we will discuss and problematise the ways that sex and gender have been discussed in archaeology, and how that has impacted the public understanding of ancient societies.

Key questions: Were women always confined to domestic spaces? Were men always hunters? Is there archaeological evidence for trans, non-binary, and other gender identities across the ancient world? How have researchers misidentified sex and gender of archaeological individuals, and how does this change our understanding of their identities and societies?

Part of a series: “Ethical issues in archaeology." Students are invited to attend one or more sessions in this series by Stacy.

In this session, we will be viewing images of ancient human remains.

Through this session, you will:
- Hear why the Peace Corps is often described as “the toughest job you’ll ever love,” along with the challenges and unique experiences associated with this role.
- Discover the power of community empowerment and entrepreneurship through the firsthand experiences of a former Peace Corps Volunteer.
- Learn about microfinance programs and initiatives that support small businesses in Panama.
- Explore the significance of Panamanian indigenous crafts in preserving cultural heritage. Beautiful crafts created by artisans from the Ngobe-Bugle, Kuna Yala, and Embera communities will be showcased, and Anne will discuss how these crafts reflect the country’s rich culture and creativity.
- Understand the impact of learning a foreign language on building connections, fostering trust and becoming a unique candidate for work. 

This session is for anyone interested in global citizenship, cultural exchange, unique crafts and community-based entrepreneurship. Let’s explore how we can empower communities and celebrate diversity together!