As course selection gets underway for the 2022-2023 school year, Upper School students will have the opportunity to consider dozens of electives. A variety of electives are offered across all of the academic and arts disciplines.
Honors Identity & Culture - Jerome Bailey
"This course is a chance for me to teach my passion. The class provides a significant amount of time focused on the African American journey," explained history teacher Jerome Bailey.
The year-long, project- and discussion-based class examines American History, including the Reconstruction Era, Civil Rights Movement, and the African American and Asian American journey.
"I think this class is important for so many reasons," said Mr. Bailey. "It provides students a chance to learn more details about marginalized groups of people in America. It also gives them the chance to select a topic of their choice and write a 10-12 page research paper in the spring semester."
"I value this opportunity because it's focused and in-depth, similar to college courses," observed James Austin '22. "Everything builds off of itself. I value it, personally, because it's revealing and raw and uncorked. I think it covers topics too often explained within a matter of a video, or one class, or one unit. To digest everything, you need to let it sit."
"There are many things that I thought I knew a lot about when, in reality, I only knew the surface," said Jasmine Williams '22. "I had my eyes truly opened with this course, especially with the Freedom Riders, Jim Crow Caricatures, and Reconstruction. I was excited to get to learn more about Booker T. Washington and other figures that I never would have been able to learn about in AP Euro or AP Gov."
Students also visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Artificial Intelligence - Matt Memmo, Hon.
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most popular electives offered by the Computer Science and Engineering Department. "This course focuses on the basics of AI and its applications," explained department chair Matt Memmo, Hon. "Specifically, students learn about advanced data structures, graphs and trees, and how to use them in practical applications such as Google Map-style pathfinding, complex decision making/predictive analytic algorithms, facial recognition/computer vision and to create a neural network."
Students who have completed AP Computer Science A are eligible to take this one-semester elective.
Honors Astrophysics - Dan Baxter
Senior Gianna Cilluffo tackled the Astrophysics elective in the fall after taking Physics her junior year. "I was a little daunted by the idea of taking a course on what felt like such advanced material, but Mr. Baxter constantly assured the class that we were capable of understanding each topic approached," explained Gianna. "My favorite part about Astro was our class stargazing nights. Beginning after our Observational Astronomy unit, we would meet on the EA baseball field to stargaze. Mr. Baxter set up his telescope and pointed out some of the 'landmarks' of our night sky, including Polaris, Venus, Jupiter and its moons, and Saturn and its rings."
"I really enjoy the variation that this course brings. We draw Newtonian mechanics, wave behavior, and ideas about atoms themselves, to model the motion of planets, what we can learn from starlight, and how the sun works," said Mr. Baxter. "The breadth of the course is refreshing. Students construct their own telescopes, research their own topics of interest, and see distant moons and galaxies for themselves in our stargazing events."
"I'd 100% recommend taking Astrophysics to anyone interested in physics, space, the stars, or even astrology and zodiac signs. Not only did this class expand my understanding of Physics, but it also challenged my understanding of the Universe. Astrophysics was one of the most fun, interesting, and engaging classes I've ever taken at EA!" said Gianna.