Though this year’s Project Week trips remain a little closer to home, New Hampton School students and faculty have put together some exciting opportunities to dive deep and engage in topics that go beyond the bounds of a typical textbook. The Project Week Guide will help students select their area of study and comes complete with pitch videos from the project leaders. Here are a few of our favorites!
Yoga, Meditation, and the Creative Process
Faculty Leaders: Julie Pereira & Sara Tyson
Essential Question: How can we increase the resilience of mind, body, and spirit to lead a more creative life?
Project Description: This project is an engagement and inquiry into various practices known to increase mind, body, and spiritual resilience. Through guided exploration, individual reflection, and the daily practice of yoga, we will investigate tools that help access our creative potential. Each day will have a unique focus: creating an inclusive environment, reducing stress and anxiety with hands-on aromatherapy putty, welcoming calm through the “RAIN” technique, making mandalas, as well as exploring and identifying our personal inner resources and strengths. We will learn to leverage these resources in everyday life. With both guest facilitators and resident practitioners, we will be guided through techniques that support access and help strengthen these spiritual inner resources.
Jewelry Artistry
Faculty Leaders: Anna Koester & Ryan Daye (Gillian Bonin and Talia Shirley)
Essential Question: How can one express themselves creatively and safely through jewelry making?
Project Description: Have you ever looked for the perfect piece of jewelry and couldn’t find it? This project focuses on learning how to make different pieces and types of jewelry unique to you and your style. We will focus on wire rings, making earrings, wire-wrapping stones or crystals for pendants, and more! This project enables you to explore the limits of jewelry and be as creative as your imagination takes you.
State Department Project
Faculty Leaders: Patrick DeBenedictis & Craig Churchill
Essential Question: How do countries interact with each other?
Project Description: Have you ever wondered how countries forge alliances, deploy militaries, or provide assistance to foreign populations? This project will examine the concepts of state interest, grand strategy, and government service, providing students the opportunity to speak with current and former Foreign Service Officers, military personnel, and development and humanitarian assistance experts. It will culminate in an exercise that enables students to take on government leadership roles in a simulated crisis that provides a hypothetical test to national security.
Children’s Literature
Faculty Leader: Jennifer McMahon
Essential Question: Everyone loves children’s books, but beyond a good idea, what is the process of creating a true classic?
Project Description: We will spend some time reading some favorite classics and award winners to understand better what elements comprise a true classic. We will then put pen to paper and begin drafting and illustrating a children’s story. We will follow the advice of some prominent authors and illustrators to help us craft and produce your very own children’s picture book. Finally, we will spend some time discussing the process authors undertake to get published. This project can be done independently, but you could also pair with a friend, one as the author and one as the illustrator.
Chess Master
Faculty Leaders: Bo Cramer & Jonathan Schwab
Essential Question: What does it take to learn the strategy to become a “chess master”?
Project Description: Students in this project will immerse themselves for the week into the ancient game of chess. Students will learn about the history of this “mind sport,” its role in various societies, and, most importantly, various strategies for winning. Students will compete against each other and compete against other students from all over the world. Chess takes only a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. No experience required!
In addition to the full week projects listed above, students are also given the option to select from a list of one-day projects to create their own Project Week itinerary. Options include La Cuisine Française, Natural Movement, Sweet & Savory, Custom Vans, Forensics, Breathing In and Letting Go, and Explore the Spanish-speaking World. Which project are you?
