| Dear friends, For our last program update of the year, I’m thrilled to share information about the EPIC (Experiential, Project-based, Innovative, Capstone) program at Brookline High School. EPIC is a full-year class that gives seniors a thoughtful alternative to traditional coursework. Students design and pursue independent projects based on their own interests. They have opportunities to research, write, collaborate, and reflect. The course culminates in a capstone project of their personal choice and self-direction. They’ve choreographed hip-hop ballets, built escape rooms, researched 3D art, recorded podcasts on leadership, designed environmentally-friendly go-karts, and many others things that I never would have dreamed about while I was in high school. Even more remarkable is how often students say they learned more about themselves than about the topic itself. They identify their questions, connect with mentors and peers, experiment, revise, and share their progress. The learning is rigorous, personal, and deeply engaging. At this year’s Across the Boards exhibition, seniors Amarjot and Tovah spoke about their EPIC experiences. |
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| I thought that EPIC was going to be an easy way out of an English class. I thought it was going to be a break, but it wound up being the best choice for a class I could take because I learned how to make a project that I wanted to work on. —Tovah (Creating a Podcast for Sports Captains to share their legacy) |
| In this class I learned how to write just to write. And so I kind of shifted from this habit of writing and editing and being stuck and not liking what I was writing, to kind of writing and forcing myself to not self-censor, to not over edit and just get the writing done. It helped my confidence so much, and it also taught me the importance of getting things done as opposed to being a perfectionist. … I learned that actually writing, it has its own therapeutic benefits and that you really can use it as a way to figure out more about yourself, not just as a skill in general. — Amarjot (Learning to be a writer) |
| Thanks for all your support of the Innovation Fund,Erica Innovation Fund Liaison |