May Term

GFA prides itself as a location at the intersection of natural and cosmopolitan beauty connected via highway, rail and waterway. This course engages students as ambassadors beyond the "walls of Beachside" to thrive in the environs within our reach on a given day. Day trips to New York City, New Haven, the Hudson Valley and small-town Connecticut will allow us to expand the classroom to art museums, sculpture gardens, botanic gardens, farms, and parks near and just within reach. We will also partner with the May Term class “Community Building and Outreach” for a day of service in the community. Students will keep a travel journal and reflect on their experiences.

Dearest Gentle Reader,

I am delighted to present to you the most intriguing of opportunities: The Bridgerton Experience. This course will surely captivate those who adore both the splendid Bridgerton series and the enduring works of Lady Austen. For those curious about the Regency era, this multidisciplinary journey will not disappoint. Students will explore historical, literary, and sociological perspectives, delving into themes of class, gender, race, and power, just as they are explored in our beloved series and Lady Austen's publications. The experience is immersive: ballroom dance lessons, photo shoots in Regency fashion, etiquette training, and biscuits and tea in the Lambert Drawing Room await. Students will also enjoy excerpts from Lady Austen's publications, scenes from Bridgerton, and Austen adaptations, as well as Regency phrases and a grand ball, complete with all the trimmings. Be warned, dear reader: this course will leave you with a newfound appreciation for love, society, and scandal.

Yours ever so devotedly,
Lady Whistledown

The Chinese Cultural Immersion Experience is an enriching, hands-on learning experience designed to provide participants with a deeper understanding of China's rich heritage and traditions. Through a blend of interactive classes, field trips, and cultural activities, this course immerses students in the dance, games, cuisine, and customs of China. Participants will learn Chinese Zumba, learn to play Chinese Checkers, and explore the significance of Chinese festivals. Additionally, excursions to cultural landmarks and local markets in Chinatown, NYC will allow participants to connect directly with Chinese culture in an authentic, personal way. This course is perfect for anyone seeking to broaden their global perspective and foster meaningful cross-cultural connections. Whether you’re a gym enthusiast, a board game lover, or just someone craving a fun way to learn about China, this class meets you where you are.

What makes for a good bowl of chowder?  What does it mean to describe a novel as chowderish?  Can an experience be chowdery?  Can a class?  A country?  With figurative–and, possibly, literal–harpoons in hand, we will chase these whale-sized questions through an oceany experiential inquiry of Herman Melville’s American masterpiece, Moby-Dick, or the Whale. To catch wind and sail through the novel’s “unshored, harborless immensities,” we will read, listen to the audiobook of, and freewrite about Moby-Dick. We will travel to Mystic Seaport to row a whaleboat, throw a harpoon, and tour the only surviving wooden whaling ship, the Charles Morgan.  We will venture to North Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, Melville’s old stomping grounds, to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and read poetry by Melville’s contemporary, Walt Whitman. We will bus our way to the Berkshires and visit Melville’s farmhouse, Arrowhead, where he wrote the bulk of Moby-Dick, and, time permitting, Edith Wharton’s palatial estate, The Mount. We will go clamming at Sasco Beach and prepare and cook clam and fish chowder.  And we will travel to local Fairfield beaches to engage in outdoor reading and discussions. This class, too, like the novel around which it forays, is glorious, textured, and full of flavor.

Want to get out of the classroom and into our community? This hands-on course is all about making a real impact while having fun along the way! Each day, we'll go beyond GFA and into local organizations that need your help. We'll read stories to young kids at Classical Studies Annex, share conversations at Elder House in Norwalk, prepare and serve meals at soup kitchens and shelters, and lend a hand at Person to Person and Filling in the Blanks. We’ll also explore the world of volunteer service with animals, continuing the work of GFA’s Paws for a Cause club and learning about the importance of animal care in our community. No two days are the same, but every day will be a chance to give back, connect with others, and see just how much of a difference you can make.

What separates an injury from an emergency? When does a situation become life-threatening? How can you help care for someone experiencing an emergency until more advanced medical care arrives? Learn about the fundamentals of being prepared for potential day-to-day emergencies and keeping yourself and others safe from disease while in the process of responding. Students will also dive into responding to a variety of breathing, and cardiac emergencies, including heart attacks, cardiac arrest, basic first aid, and the operation of an AED. We’ll also get a chance to talk to people who use these types of skills, though at a much more advanced level, in their day-to-day lives. This course highlights practical and experiential skills and is designed to result in first aid, CPR, and AED certifications through the American Red Cross.

This is an experiential learning course in being outdoors. As we explore the wild places around GFA and across Connecticut, we will learn through doing. Skills we will practice may include hiking, map-reading and route-finding, outdoor cooking, camping, canoeing, and rock climbing. As we interact with and learn how to make our way in the natural world, we will ask ourselves: what does it mean to live competently and responsibly outside of the urban and suburban environments to which we are accustomed? What can the outdoors offer us? What are our responsibilities to the outdoors? And how can we live well as a collective, share the responsibilities of leadership and stewardship, and learn to function as a team?
This course will culminate in a required overnight camping trip in one of Connecticut’s beautiful state parks. To make the most of our time outside, we will leave campus promptly at 8 a.m. each day.

Many mathematical concepts are intriguing because there seems to be some sort of magical relationship behind the processes. The world of magic can also be fascinating because of the structure, patterning, and precision with which the tricks are delivered. This course is designed to merge these two worlds and introduce students to a number of mathematical concepts, using magic as a backdrop. Through a wide selection of tricks, students will explore the fields of number theory, combinatorics, probability, algebra, geometry, and topology (among others), while learning a bit about the successful presentation of magic. No advanced level of mathematics or experience with magic is required, but enrolled students should have an interest in (and be curious about!) mathematics and have successfully completed Math 300, Math 350, or beyond.

What tastes good to you? Why? In this course, we'll become scientists exploring the building blocks of taste: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy, and umami. Through experiments, cooking, and conversations with experts, we'll investigate how humans detect and process flavor at the molecular level. We'll turn the kitchen into our laboratory and analyze taste perception. Together, we'll have fun with food, trick our senses, and learn what it takes to be a professional food taster. Join us to discover how chemistry and biology shape every bite we take.

What plants and flowers make the GFA campus so beautiful? How might we contribute to the upkeep of our school’s grounds? Do you have a “green thumb” and enjoy working outdoors, or would you like to learn more about gardening and landscaping? In conjunction with Tom Barry and the Maintenance Crew, students in this course will tackle projects around campus that will contribute to the spring beautification of our community. Sign up to get outdoors and make a difference here at GFA!

What is horror? Why read, watch, or create horror stories? What are this generation’s big horror subjects? Paying attention to what scares us and why, we’ll read and discuss great horror fiction and watch great horror films. This is a chance to dive deep into juicy, elemental material; to talk about subjects we rarely talk about; and to try our hand at creating our own scary stories. Inspired by the pieces we read and watch, students will write two very short horror stories, record a War of the Worlds-esque radio announcement, and collaborate to make a short horror film.

What was your favorite cartoon as a child? Imagine being in the writer’s room with the creator who wrote it.  How do journalists pitch and publish their stories? What makes a story powerful enough to spark change? How do creative professionals transform ideas into content that captivates, moves, and inspires? This week-long creative retreat will teach you how improv sets you up for success in the writer’s room, and revisit the stories that shaped your childhood.   Whether you’re drawn to film, journalism, social media, or beyond, this course will help you craft stories that engage, influence, and inspire!  You will gain insider knowledge on storytelling techniques, creative habits, and career paths that sustain working artists.

This course is designed for students who are passionate about musical theatre and eager to explore the full process of creating and performing a production. Throughout May term, students will take complete creative control in developing a cabaret performance, selecting a theme, choosing songs, and overseeing staging, choreography, and production elements. In addition to hands-on rehearsal and performance experience, students will engage with working industry professionals through specialized workshops, gaining insight into what it takes to sustain a career in theatre. To deepen their understanding, students will attend two Broadway musicals in New York City, comparing and contrasting different approaches to storytelling and production. They will also visit the Museum of Broadway to explore the rich history of the art form. By the end of the course, students will have developed a fully realized cabaret performance, showcasing their work and creative vision to an audience.

Innocent or guilty? Accidental death? Suicide? Insurance fraud? This May Term course will introduce students to the use of legal reasoning and argument in the context of trial advocacy. The course will walk students through preparation for a mock trial of a fictional civil or criminal case. Students will learn about the various aspects of a legal procedure and will form the oral arguments, culminating in a trial at the end of the week. Students will have the opportunity to play the roles of both attorney and witness. Our work to understand the court system will include meeting with currently practicing professionals.

The best films engage us completely: they entertain us, captivate our emotions, and prompt us to think about the ways we live in the world. Film’s visual and linguistic aspects are certainly vital parts of this process—we are moved, for example, by the impassioned dialogue of on-screen actors, and we sit at the edges of our seats during intense car chases. But to what extent does the film’s music inform and structure our viewing experience, and how have approaches to music in film changed over time? This interdisciplinary May-Term course seeks to answer these questions by engaging meaningfully with the history and aesthetics of sound and music in film. Through viewing assignments, film music analysis, creative compositional projects using GarageBand and iMovie, and a culminating field trip to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, students will engage with the history of film music from the earliest silent films to favorite present-day examples. Ultimately, this course will provide students with the necessary tools to both analyze the relationship between sound and image and consider music as a primary source worthy of historical inquiry.

This class will take you on a journey through the world of paper and paper crafts. From its meager beginnings in China, the art of paper making took more than a thousand years before reaching Europe and eventually the New World. From books to home decor to cards for various occasions, paper has transformed our world. We will make ornaments, fold origami, cut and fold kiragami, and make paper and various paper related crafts. We’ll invite a paper making artist to help us make paper from invasive plants, have paper airplane flights over the sound and connect with each other while we work.

Do you find yourself playing the New York Times “Connections” or “Wordle” at school? Or do you play board games, sudoku, or other games with friends and family during downtime? Do you have an interest in connecting with your community? Then this class is for you! Please join us as we dive into the world of puzzling and take what we’ve learned out into the community by partnering with local community groups. Whether you love crosswords, strategy games, or escape rooms, there’ll be something for you. Together we will enjoy not only solving but even creating our own puzzles! You’re the missing piece to this class and we hope you’ll help us complete the puzzle!

Explore the ancient wisdom of Wabi Sabi, finding beauty in simplicity (wabi), and serenity in the rhythms of the seasons (sabi), by creating art using materials and processes from the natural bounty around us. Wabi Sabi teaches us that all things are impermanent and imperfect, giving us permission to be our imperfect selves as we create art in harmony with nature. We will hand-build tea sets and sculpt “netsuki” (small animal figurines). We will also use natural dye materials, including flowers from our garden, to dye fabrics using traditional Japanese techniques. We will stitch on these fabrics, and mend our own jeans, using sasshiko mending practices. We will also study the art of Haibun poetry, writing our own poems in quiet moments between art projects. Participating in a traditional tea ceremony at the Urasenke Chanoyu Japanese tea house in Manhattan will allow us to experience the wabi sabi philosophy first-hand. We will visit Henny Penny Farm in Ridgefield to experience an on-site dye workshop with master dyer and farmer, Whitney Freeman.