The Acronym

By: Abby Chao, News staff writer

After a long week of normal classes, it's time look back on the good ol' days... like Intersession week! From January 5th through January 9th, IMSA students were up to all kinds of crazy things. We've compiled a list of some of this year's greatest intersessions. Of course, we couldn't include everybody, but here's a taste.

IMSA Chicago
We've all heard rumors, but is IMSA really going to Chicago? Dr. Max McGee, president of IMSA, explained that they explored "the possiblity of opening a second campus in Chicago at a future date." Students faced challenges such as funding, different models, teachers, location, standards, and especially breaking the cycle of poverty. Overall, McGee stated that, "Our intersession even exceeded my high expectations... Teaching intersesion classes was the highlight of the year for me."

One day, students met with Josh Edelman from the Office of New Schools for Chicago Public Schools.

Though everyone contributed overwhelmingly throughout the intersession, coleaders Michelle Kolar, Kazi Joshua, and Suzyn Price, as well as senior assistants Vidya Govind-Thomas and Anne Pipathsouk worked closely with McGee during the planning and development of the intersession.

"By the end of the week, I believed that our thoughtful thinking produced and outlined a nice starting foundation for the Design Team to regard," added Pipathsouk. The intersession brought "those who know IMSA best - us, the students - together to discuss and to plan out the new IMSA campus."

Later this year, the five small groups formed during the intersession will have a "Second Cup of Coffee" meeting to discuss recommendations for the IMSA Chicago curriculum, student life, residential life and community engagement, SIR and PLP, and enrollment and admissions. This meeting will be open to the IMSA student body.

Let's Cook!
Perhaps one of the most requested intersessions of the year, Bob Pranaat's vegetarian/vegan cooking intersession was an enormous hit. There was a strong focus on cooking dishes that could be prepared in the dorms, using ingredients from Woodman's and appliances like electrical stoves, girdles, pots and pans.

An average day consisted of following a rough recipe - which was more of a guideline than anything - and figuring out the best way to cook the recipe with the available equipment. Of course, each day ended with enjoying a delicious home-made meal that can be replicated in the dorms.

After conquering logistical challenges, everyone in the intersession had the opportunity to cook something new and interesting. "Everyone added something unique and essential to the mix of things," said Pranaat.

Jazz Improv
Those of more musical inclinations may have found themselves in Dr. Dan Gleason's Jazz Improv intersession, where students learned the necessary foundations for successful improvisation through jazz chords, scales, and theory in general. The end result? By the end of the week, students performed a mini-concert with each and every student soloing.

"The class was a great success," said Gleason. "Everyone did a fantastic job in being attentive to the music and taking risks... I was also very happy to hear students putting in time after hours in the practice rooms, working on the fundamentals of soloing."

While everyone worked hard, two students rose above the rest. "Ultimately, it was really Travis [Mui, drums] and Jake [Miller, bass] who carried the rhythm throughout the set. Without their confidence and technique, I doubt we would have been able to put on the show that we did," said student Ryan Walach. Gleason added, "As the only players on their crucial instruments, they both logged the most hours running through the music with various groupings of players."

"I think we were all very proud of ourselves," concluded Walach.

ILXO Development
A smaller intersession, ILXO Development featured alumni co-coordinators Mel Chua and Yifan Sun, staff sponsor Scott Swanson, and students Arjun Nayini, Katie Tu, and Jason Olson. The week-long trip to Boston was directed at assisting development of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project in the Cambridge Friends School, a K-12 Quaker school near Harvard University. Each extraordinary day was filled with talking to teachers about OLPC applications (also called "Activities"), creating a school-wide server with a wireless connection, backup, and moodle, and plenty of programming.

Chua and Sun agreed that the intersession not only achieved its goals, but as Chua explained, they "gave [others] hope that the project would continue and reinforced one of our community's beliefs - that young people can do amazing things, if we'll only let them try."

"You can imagine a room filled with important software people staring at three high school kids, but in fact they were not only interested in what IMSA did, but viewed it as a shiny star in a rather tumultuous week," remembered Sun. "Even now, I hear people saying how remarkable it was that high school kids managed to carry out what they did in one week."

Kevin Crews and Gabi Heller, both IMSA students, also participated in the planning process. Some of the challenges that they overcame with the rest of the team included forms and parent concerns, but the result was a highly successful intersession. "This was a student-led intersession," said Swanson.

Social Justice
If you saw a group of IMSA students stepping during lunch, then you witnessed part of Social Justice II: The Struggle for Racial Justice 1619-1964. Directed by Adrienne Coleman, Kazi Joshua, and Quintin Backstrom, this intersession showed the seven participating students a historical and ethical framework through which to study American history; encouraged them to critically analyze contemporary society, especially urban housing in Chicago; and focused - for one day - on black Greek fraternities and sororities.

Daily activities included guest speakers, debates, lectures, discussion, movies, music, and even a trip to Chicago to visit the Dusable Museum and eat at Pearls, an African-American soul food restaurant."All of [the students] contributed constructively," said Coleman. "No student was a spectator in the class."

Joshua added, "I think the class was successful."