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Classes Ease Westminster Students Back to School

Posted on: Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 21:00 CST

By Cheryl Chojnacki Daily Herald Correspondence

With classes like scrapbooking, forensic science, cinematography, or chess to choose from, a kid can look forward to going to school.

Especially when the class period lasts all morning or afternoon. Westminster Christian School in Elgin recently completed the successful launch of Winter Interim, a program that eases kids back into the classroom after Christmas break and gives them the chance to try something new for the first week and a half.

"Most students loved the change of pace," said high school principal Carolyn Palmer. "It's not as rigorously academic as regular classes."

Students would be hard-pressed not to find something of interest in the course offerings, which were plentiful, from archaeology to gospel choir music, from building a Web page to building a better mousetrap.

Even students who really were ready to hit the books again could find a quantity of academic choices: Preparing for the ACT, The Problem of Evil, Women of the Old Testament, and many others.

Andrew "Marty" Martin, a junior, was sold on the Web page class, one of the most popular offerings.

"My generation is supposed to know everything about the computer," he said, "so I thought it would be fun to learn."

Besides the basics of HTML, Martin said he picked up tips on using sound clips and a variety of backgrounds, linking Web pages, and downloading from Google.

The Web page he designed is a tribute to the television show "Lost."

Students chose two courses for the interim; classes were two and a half hours each. Some students used the afternoon session for volunteer work or internships.

The winter interim concept has been around for decades, particularly on the college level, but Westminster, which enrolls 495 students from preschool through 12th grade, is one of the first in this area to try it at the high school and middle school levels.

There are other advantages besides aiding re-entry to the classroom mindset after the holidays.

"We really like completing our first semester before Christmas break," Palmer said. "But second semester is two or three weeks longer than the first semester, so this helps even it out."

And, it's stimulating for teachers, Palmer said.

"They can take an avocation that they're passionate about and actually have a chance to share that with students."

Karl Dahlman, for example, teaches high school science at Westminster but designs and builds guitars in his spare time.

In the interim, he taught students how to handcraft a dulcimer from a kit.

Bill Marsh, who otherwise teaches history and philosophy, is also known for his love of the outdoors. He conducted a class on mountains - mountain climbers and the psychology of climbing, geography of the peaks themselves, and successful backpacking.

An English teacher offered a class on scrapbooking.

A math teacher coached wallyball games.

Chess strategies were laid out by a teacher who instructs students on history and Bible.

"It's really a relationship builder between teachers and students because it gives students a chance to see their teacher in a different light," Palmer said.

One case in point: Gym teacher Mark Funkhouser's "Funky Cooking" class. The eight students, all girls, met in the kitchen of Funkhouser's home, three miles from the school.

"I took the class because I don't know how to cook," said senior Bekkah Hacke. "And even if I didn't do everything myself, I learned how to enjoy cooking. We made potato pizza, which sounds disgusting, but it's good."

Twice the class had school at the grocery store.

"It was fun taking the girls to Jewel and asking them questions and making them think about why they would buy one thing over another," Funkhouser said.

Eventually he turned students loose in the store with a credit card and ingredient lists for the meals they would be making, things like omelets and waffles, four kinds of cookies, a couple different pizzas, vegetable soup and chili, and pot pie like his mom used to make. They used her recipe.

Of course all the dishes got passed around for sampling, along with compliments, and the girls cleaned up before heading back to school with leftovers to share.

For the afternoon session, Hacke volunteered at Administer Justice, a non-profit law organization, and Funkhouser coached "Volley Hockey," a popular class where students could enjoy playing two favorite sports, volleyball and hockey.

Some students traveled for all or part of the interim sessions. About a dozen high schoolers experienced the art museums, sculptures and scenery of Italy and Spain. Another 16 traveled to Guatemala City for missions work.

And 31 middle-school students flew to Washington, D.C., for an intensive, four-day tour of all the landmarks.

For Alex Howell, a seventh grader who says he loves history, seeing the original Declaration of Independence up close and personal was a favorite "because it's really important to the country, and it's just a cool thing," he said. "Not a copy, but the actual thing."

It's not so easy to get into the White House anymore, but thanks to the connections of a Westminster dad who used to be with the Secret Service, the students enjoyed a private, guided tour.

They saw all the sites - the Supreme Court, National Cathedral, the changing of the guard at Arlington Cemetery, and more.

History teacher Joe Huddleston considered the trip well worth the effort.

"We got to touch history. You can sit here and look at a textbook, but until you go and see it and experience it for yourself, you're not going to understand it as well."

The whole interim program takes enormous planning, Palmer said.

"Never having done it before, it was a lot of work. "But once the logistics were worked out, it was refreshing."

Source: Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.

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