DragonWeek

Zipline, white-water raft, and horseback ride in the great CA outdoors! We will head out on our road trip and include hikes and parks along the way. Students will be on the road for the entire week leaving Monday morning and returning Friday afternoon. You will share in meal planning, prep, and clean up (we all work together). Our aim includes a concluding night bonfire and BBQ (s'mores anyone?!).

This course will focus on the history and activism of marginalized communities in the Bay Area including queer communities, disabled communities, and BIPOC communities. Over the course of the week, students will engage in a series of field trip days taking them to cultural sites and museums. Some of these sites include a walking tour of the Castro, the Black Panther Museum, and Deaf Services at the San Francisco public library. Students will also be engaging in educational work on campus to gain a deeper understanding of the history and activism of these communities.

This 5-day, 4-night trip will take us into wilderness brimming with fascinating geology, surprising biodiversity, and the spiky, photogenic yucca trees that give this region of the Mojave Desert its name. Hikers, climbers, photographers, and campers are drawn from all over the world to play in the boulder outcroppings and forests of Joshua Tree National Park. Its prime location in the high, exposed Mojave creates the perfect weather for hiking and boulder-hopping all day, followed by unforgettable star shows each night. We will fly from Oakland airport to Palm Springs where guides from REI will transport us to base camp where the real adventure will begin. Hiking will be the main activity on this nature DragonWeek, up to 8 miles per day. While the hikes are not highly technical, we expect that students will have the endurance and physical fitness to participate in all activities. As much as possible, this trip will be device-free so that students can have a nature-immersive experience. Note that students will sleep in 2-person tents.

Do you want to learn more about marine life and all the wonderful creatures and plants that live in it and around it? Want to learn how to make observations and research these specific systems and learn about what is helping or affecting their populations? Or learn more about scientific elements from the smallest particles to the largest structures in the universe? Then join us! We will be going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Whale Watching, tide pooling, monitoring the creatures of SF Bay marine wetlands, tours of Slac labs, and more.

This year, students in Alan's Senior Elective history class will visit Austria. They will walk in the footsteps of the people they have learned about, with trips to the Belvedere Palace, the Danube Valley, Budapest, the Prater Gardens, and more!

In this class, you will learn essential cooking skills, including proper knife techniques, guided by a master French chef. You'll also discover how to prepare simple, nutritious meals in various settings, such as a farm-to-table location, an in-store kitchen, and possibly even a private kitchen. Additionally, the course will cover topics like nutrition, smart grocery shopping, and tips for stretching a limited student budget. To inspire and educate your palate, you'll enjoy samples of diverse cuisines from around the world.

The theme of the week is going to be creating and exploring new mediums, where students will get to explore different tools, work within different disciplines and modalities, and create tangible and practical items. Over the course of the week, they will gain experience working with power tools and woodworking, working with clay throwing and creating ceramic items, participating in a leatherwork class to make their own leather pieces, and pounding steel in a blacksmithing class.