Impacts of IMSA Returning to One-Week Intersession

IMSA’s board recently released the proposed school year calendar for 2026-2027. One notable change was the board’s proposal to return to the previous intersession format. In January 2026, students returned from winter break to a two-week intersession with many options taught by IMSA faculty, alumni, and visitors. I attended “AI, Culture, Us,” taught by Dr. Eric Rettberg; “Introduction to Cloud Computing,” taught by Dr. Phadmakar Patankar; and “STEMbassadors,” taught by Dr. Zachary Conley. Historically, instead of two weeks, students will have four choices of one-week intersessions. The proposed dates are:

Oct. 12–16, 2026

Jan. 4–8, 2027

Mar. 29–Apr. 2, 2027

or May 24–28, 2027

…which concur with fall break, the end of winter break, spring break, and the first week of summer break. 

Dr. Luke Berryman, the director of Experiential Learning at IMSA, noted that the two-week intersession is new. 

“…it’s very much a one-week offering. That’s what it was in the beginning, and that’s what it was for a long time. So the two-week format was kind of an anomaly anyway, not the other way around,” said Berryman. 

He also believes one-week intersessions work better. 

“I think that when it’s one week, first of all, that aligns with the established culture of the program and of the academy,” said Berryman.

Additionally, the results of the Intersession survey support one-week intersessions. 

“One thing I can certainly share is that the majority of respondents seemed to feel two weeks was too long, that the program became bloated, that it was dragging on, that it became harder to be a student, that it became harder to be a teacher,” said Berryman.

On the other hand, some students think the two weeks give them more time to dive into a topic. 

According to Colton Bing, a sophomore, Intersession dives into exciting topics, such as juggling and medicine, instead of daily school subjects, such as English. 

“And by cutting that valuable opportunity short, I feel like it will give students much less time to truly dive into what they actually love,” said Bing.

Berryman acknowledges that a two-week intersession better supports some programs, but ultimately favors the proposed one-week intersession.

“I know there were a small handful of programs where arguably two weeks was more beneficial, travel study being one example. The robotics team may also feel that two weeks was better, but I think in most cases, there are more pros in the one-week column than there would be in the two-week column,” said Berryman.

The course format will mostly remain the same next year, except two week courses will be removed if the board implements its proposed calendar. 

“In terms of the other programs, we’re going to keep the core and explore format, and most of the programs that were offered this previous year were only offered for one week,” said Berryman. 

He ultimately believes the one-week intersessions will have no significant impact. 

“I don’t think it will have, in terms of what you, the students, see in the catalog, a tremendous impact [on] what we can and can’t offer,” said Berryman.