{"id":11999,"date":"2014-01-21T09:56:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T15:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/?p=11999"},"modified":"2014-01-21T09:56:17","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T15:56:17","slug":"intersession-2014-behind-the-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/2014\/01\/21\/intersession-2014-behind-the-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"Intersession 2014 – Behind the Scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all gone through it, some of us more than others. Each of us has spent one week of the school year learning about something new, fun, and interesting, and for that one week in January, all of us have found that learning doesn\u2019t have to be in the curriculum.<\/span><\/p>\n

Intersession<\/strong> gives IMSA students a chance to explore new topics or learn more about what they already know. Some intersessions, such as Chicagoland Museum Tour<\/strong>, are recurring favorites and heavily attended each year. Some just completed their first ever session. So what makes or breaks an intersession? Why are some courses offered every year while others are only offered a couple times? And how do new intersessions make the cut?<\/p>\n

One of the new intersessions this year was Death Note and Philosophy<\/strong>, led by Dallas Eckman (’14)<\/strong> and Sunny Shah (’14)<\/strong>. \u201cI opened the email asking for intersession applications and asked my roommate Dallas if he wanted to teach one with me,\u201d says Sunny. \u201cWe didn\u2019t really have an idea in mind, but we both liked teaching, so why not? The stars were obviously aligned in our favor, so we quickly asked the lovely Dan Riemersma (residential counselor)<\/strong> to sponsor us and wrote a seven page application about the learning outcomes from discussing various literary, ethical, and philosophical aspects of Death Note.\u201d\u00a0Lot of work? Definitely. But the end product of the session makes the time worthwhile.<\/p>\n

A lot more goes into bringing a new intersession to life than effort\u00a0from the instructors. Ellen Heinz <\/strong>is an administrative team\u00a0member who plays a large\u00a0role in intersession. She takes charge\u00a0of “setting up the proposal process for presenters, setting up the request process for students, scheduling students in sessions, and handling logistics involved with sessions,” among other responsibilities. Heinz has seen more than\u00a0her fair share of intersessions.<\/p>\n

So what makes a \u2018good\u2019 intersession? \u201cActivities,\u201d she replies, \u201cwhether it is going somewhere or making something. Students seem happiest being active and not listening to lectures all day.\u201d A prime example would be the wildly popular Chicagoland Museum Tour. It had 72 applicants this year alone and is a recurring favorite. The new intersession trip to California’s Silicon Valley was also a popular choice among students.<\/p>\n

What other qualities must an intersession have a shot at being held again? \u201cWe look at the merit of the session in terms of opportunity for students,\u201d says Diane Hinterlong<\/strong>. \u201cWe also look at whether we feel the presenter is qualified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then why are some attractive sessions often only occasionally instead of\u00a0 every year? \u201cThe presenters volunteer what they would like to do for an intersession,\u201d answers Hinterlong, \u201cand so even though the students might like it year after year, maybe the presenters want an opportunity to present something different. We want the presenters to do something they feel passionate about as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also intersessions that are proposed but never make it to the virtual pages of intersession sign-up. According to Hinterlong, a proposal may be denied if the reviewing board feels that the presenter is not qualified or if it is \u201cnot detailed in terms of how they\u2019ll engage students and what they do.\u201d She continues that “…beyond that, the others that don\u2019t run are based on student demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result of all this effort from faculty, staff, and presenters is a unique opportunity for IMSA students.\u00a0 Most students would agree that it is not only fun but perhaps crucial to the IMSA experience. As Heinz puts it, \u201cit is a nice transition back to school after break… and it is a nice way for students to interact with faculty, staff and alumni presenters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI strongly recommend teaching an intersession senior year,\u201d says current senior Sunny Shah. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be an expert, just find something you like to talk about and have faith.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all gone through it, some of us more than others. Each of us has spent one week of the school year learning about something…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1019],"tags":[2195,2196,2198,2197,1576,1161,1586],"coauthors":[1996],"class_list":["post-11999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-imsanews","tag-break","tag-campus","tag-heinz","tag-hinterlong","tag-intersession","tag-students","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11999"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12002,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11999\/revisions\/12002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11999"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.imsa.edu\/acronym\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}