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Winterim 2020
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Winterim 2020
Katerina Medori ‘21 CO-EDITOR OF ART & PHOTOGRAPHY
This year, Archmere exchanged a week of midterm exams for a week of Winterim, a collection of courses that differ from traditional academic classes. Some of the courses were 6-hour courses, meaning two hours a day for three days; some were 12-hour courses, four hours a day for three days. Grade levels were mixed within each course.
Most of the response to Winterim and the specific courses has been overwhelmingly positive, according to a survey sent out by The Green Arch.
Students voiced their opinions about their courses, ranging from their favorite parts to newly gained insights and skills. Freshman Kathryn Benson said, “I use the things that I learned in Mindfulness in my everyday life. Whenever I need to refocus myself from the stressors of life, I use the techniques from Mindfulness to recenter.”
I enjoyed going bird-watching and learning about reptiles. I also liked the dissecting activities (since you get to actually look at an animal’s inside functions) although they were quite sad to do. - Alexander Chen ‘23
Multiple courses were designed for introspection, like Dreams and Failures, Sound Affects, and 9/11. Junior Alyssa Pierangeli said, “By the end of the course, I had a better understanding of who I am and who I want to be in order to achieve my goals.”
However, many other courses focused on developing tangible skills, such as cooking, baking, and even woodworking. Senior Tom Carney said, “Drilling holes and working together to build our projects made the skills of woodworking more than the ability to build, but also how to design the projects we wanted to build. And remember: always measure twice, and cut once.”
Another 12-hour course, Chinese Calligraphy and Cuisine, combined cooking and calligraphy based around Chinese culture. Sophomore Beyonce Hu said, “I learned how to make scallion pancakes and became proficient in calligraphy.”
I learned different types of strategy and skill tabletop games, many of which I did not about until taking Board Not Bored Games. - Bella Rappucci ‘23
Many courses were so successful that students are eager to recommend their courses to others. Sophomore Elena Proctor said, “I would definitely recommend this course because I think playing board games is a really fun way to bond with your friends instead of looking at our phones.” Junior Niko Omirdis said, “Inclusive Communities does a great job of teaching very good lessons about disabilities, something that should be taught more in all schools. Ms. Rodack makes the course very fun and interesting as well.” Additionally, senior Katie Kent said, “I would recommend the Disney Course to other students because I had such a great time seeing ‘Frozen’ on Broadway and watching the ‘Imagineering’ documentary.”
Midterms seem to be in the rearview mirror as Archmere embraces this new Winterim curriculum and celebrates its first rather successful implementation. When talk of Winterim first surfaced, student response ranged from unsure to excited. Junior Bella Ganfield said, “I was excited to try new things and especially happy about not having midterms.” Sophomore Robert Smith said, “When I first heard that Winterim was replacing midterms, I was ecstatic.” Perhaps predictably, the Green Arch survey shows that the majority of students prefer to Winterim as a permanent replacement to midterms.
