Writing is one of the oldest ways humans have searched for meaning. From ancient myths to teenage journals, stories have always helped us ask: Who am I? How do I make sense of this world? In this course, students explore how writing and storytelling can reveal, and even reshape, their understanding of themselves. Through creative experimentation across forms, from pen-and-paper to digital media, students will play with language, rhythm, and imagery to discover what makes their voice unique. Drawing inspiration from writers like Mary Shelley, Walt Whitman, and Herman Melville, this class invites students to fall in love with the process of writing as a personal act of discovery. This is not a “how-to” course; it’s a “what-if” one; a journey toward finding authenticity, confidence, and meaning through the written word.

What happens when art in any form is too honest, or too wild for the mainstream to handle? In this bold and thought-provoking class, students will dive into the world of rebel artists who dared to break traditions, ditch expectations, and cause much needed discomfort.

Guided by legends like Banksy, Kiki Smith, Basquiat, Ralph Steadman as well as lesser-known artists and illustrators who challenged authority, students will explore how art can disrupt, inspire, ignite change, and how it can be a tool to speak the unspeakable. Using unconventional mediums including found materials, mixed media, ink, spray paint, and others, students will find their inner rebel and create their own ‘dangerous art’—pieces that spark emotion, push boundaries, and help them discover that true rebellion often begins with a paint splatter, a wall, or even a random object.

Go beyond the boundaries of traditional artmaking and explore the raw, expressive, and viscerally unconventional world of self-taught artists like Madge Gill (U.K.), Bill Traylor (U.S.) and Chaïbia Talal (Morocco), as well as others who create from pure imagination.

In this class, students will discover how artists outside of and often ignored by the mainstream—visionaries, dreamers, and rule-breakers—have expressed their unique voices using distinctive materials and bold ideas. Through a mix of hands-on creative experiments and

Outsider Art projects, young learners will discover how intuition and personal experience can shape powerful works of art. They will learn to see Outsider Art as a vital form of artistic expression, celebrating imagination, self-discovery, and thefreedom to create without constraint.

What if teens actually understood how their bodies work — and how to take care of them for life? Body Smart is a high-energy, hands-on health class that blends movement, science, and real-world skills. Students will learn why the heart races, how muscles grow, why sleep matters, how the immune system protects them, and how everyday choices shape their performance and well-being.

Through interactive demonstrations, experiments, and activities, students gain the knowledge and confidence to make smart decisions about their own health — now and for years to come.