Summits
Summits are two-week multifaceted explorations in which students and faculty engage in deep studies that are rooted in our school's values, history, and mission. Intentionally cross-graded and cross-curricular, Summits are designed to offer new avenues for more in-depth, creative, and meaningful learning experiences.
Students taking Lego Robotics learn how to design, build, and refine robots to complete a variety of tasks and challenges. The culminating event of this Summit is a multi-school cooperative competition in which students work together to solve environmental problems using technology and robots.
The Visual Art Criticism: Craft to Activism Summit engages students to research and discuss the artist's intention behind his/her artwork. Students use Seattle's rich art collections, such as the Frye Art Museum in First Hill, to analyze and critique art.
Our Tiny Houses Summit takes a look at Seattle's homelessness epidemic and challenges the students to attempt to address the issue in concrete ways. During the year, students need to raise nearly $3,000 as a class to build a tiny house for a city sanctioned encampment site.
Students taking Documentary Film learn how to tell a story through film. During the Summit, students learn how to professionally film and edit a short documentary, which ultimately is presented to the rest of the school at the end of the two week Summit.
A Sampling of Summits
LandFillharmonic
Inspired by the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura (a Paraguayan group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage) the LandFillharmonic tasks students with designing, building, and performing on unique instruments created from discarded materials. Students study the physics of music and learn how instruments work, under the backdrop of environmental sustainability, equity in music education, and self-expression through performing art.
The March Goes On: Civil Rights Past, Present, & Future
Using the power of perspective and place, students take a personal and historical journey through key moments of the Civil Rights Movement, visiting: Atlanta, Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham, Jackson, Greenwood, and Memphis. While in the South, students meet with historians, activists, and participants in the struggle for Civil Rights.
This Summit connects the historical Civil Rights Movement with the movement today, both in the South and the Pacific Northwest.