e-Newsletter: January 2007

IN THIS ISSUE
Intensives Week
Alumni Update
January - What's Happening

INTENSIVES WEEK
Ever flexible in how the school structures its activities, PSCS experimented the last week before winter break with something called Intensives Week. The concept was for the students to choose one of four themes, each facilitated by a member of the teaching staff and Andy, and spend a school week, five whole school days, fully engrossed in that theme. The themes, Filmmaking, Cooking, Stop-Motion Animation, and the book The Little Prince, were determined based on student input and staff feedback.

For the filmmaking intensive, Nic led seven students through the steps of making a short film.  The group met with industry professionals (including a screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor) and spent the rest of the week writing, directing, shooting, and editing their own work.  Three shorts were completed during the week, with shooting begun on at least one other.  (The accompanying photo is from "Murphy's Law," a film that was conceived, shot, and edited in about six hours.)  "I wanted them to come away from the week with enough know-how to feed their curiosity," said Nic.  "If a couple of them are excited enough to continue making movies on their own, they now have the tools to get started."

Four students worked with Anoo and cooked cuisines from around the world.  They spent three days with professional chefs, two of them in commercial kitchens, learning the nuances of Thai, French and Italian cooking. As they poured crepe batter over a heated pan, they were enthralled by German Chef Tobi's accent and experience in running the Selfish Box lunch catering business. With Chef Mike of Cafe Bizzarro (see photo) they made ravioli from scratch, bringing together complex ingredients from Tuscany into a flavorful lunch for seven. They took their learnings into the homes of PSCS families, cooking a Thai meal for the Collins family and a Turkish & Greek meal for the Kahns. Of the experience, one of them said, "Now I know how to cut vegetables and not my finger"!

The members of the stop-motion animation intensive spent the week with Matt creating short, 10-30 second stop-motion animation movies. They worked as a group on Monday, getting familiar with the hardware (cameras, tripods, lighting) and software they would be using for the week, and then shooting and editing a short movie together. For the remainder of the week, students were free to work individually or in groups to unleash their creativity and create movies using whatever medium they desired. They ended the week with a truly wonderful batch of movies starring clay, legos, hand-drawn pictures, glitter, chairs, thumbtacks, chess pieces, chewing gum, and so on.

The students that participated in the intensive with Andy were involved in an in-depth analysis of the themes, motifs and symbols of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic “The Little Prince.”  They came the first day having read the book, and finished the intensive having written, illustrated and presented their own children’s book.  In between they watched two video adaptations of the story, participated in several seminars in which they connected aspects of the story to other texts, were engaged with two wonderful guest speakers, pilot Scobie Puchtler and mystic David Spangler, and completed daily homework assignments. As any member of the group would tell you, the week may best be summed up by this statement, “Not losing sight of what you can’t see is an eye-opening experience.”

In sum, Intensives Week was a rousing success and discussions have begun on how to integrate its concepts further into the regular schedule. A second such week was already planned for the first week of April, but talk about “Intensives Fridays” and “Intensives Afternoons” is now being heard.  Just as we promote the school, PSCS maintains a flexible structure, free to adhere to valid traditional forms and free to create new ones.

ALUMNI UPDATE
We sometimes say PSCS is the victim of its own success.  We want our students to find what excites them, what makes their hearts sing.  We also want our students to stay at PSCS throughout their high school years.  Sometimes, though, staying at PSCS through high school and pursuing one’s passions comes into conflict, hence the school being the victim of its own success.  Here are a couple of examples.

Kent Combs attended PSCS for just one year, 2005-06.  Early on he realized that he wanted to attend cooking school and he wanted to do it as soon as he could.  His focus at PSCS became getting into a culinary art school and the staff helped him work toward achieving this goal.  This year, at age 16, he is happily enrolled at the Western Culinary Institute (www.wci.edu) in Portland, OR.  Here is how Kent described a recent experience. “I started butchery class on Monday. It's really awesome!! At first it was weird, but now I love it. The trick is to stop thinking of what you’re cutting as a creature and just think of it as food. How they teach you is by first showing you how to do the cuts, then they tell you to go do them.”

In a recent email, Kent reflected on his year at PSCS, “PSCS gave me the foundation to build my dreams. The classes opened my eyes to the world. I strongly believe that if I never went to PSCS I wouldn't be where I am today. The friendships I've forged there are the kind that are going to last me my lifetime. I discovered who I am because of PSCS and can never thank them enough for my experiences there.”

One of Kent’s instructors wrote to Andy and said, “I want to tell you what a pleasure it is to have Kent in my class. He is a great student and a truly motivated learner. Are all your students like that?  Keep up the great work with your students!”

Joshua Bandy currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, where he studies Sound Design for Visual Media at the Vancouver Film School. Like Kent, he attended PSCS for one year, his being 1999-2000.  In his application materials Joshua’s mom wrote, “The style of Josh’s learning does not translate well to a public school classroom environment where listening/lecture style is dominant.  Our expectation is that he will have room to discover what he is passionate about in work and life.” 

Six years later, reflecting upon his PSCS experience, Joshua said, “My single year at PSCS was indisputably the most positive school experience of my teens. Our family was fortunate to discover PSCS at a very difficult time in my life. The supportive education philosophy and affable, dedicated staff of PSCS allowed me to cultivate my own intrinsic desire to study and participate within my community, and for that I am forever thankful.”

Joshua, who now spends around 90 hours per week at film school, intends to acquire a position as a professional Recordist or Sound Effects Editor. In the long term he hopes to explore the facets of Sound Design and Audio Engineering, noting, "Right now I just want to make enough money on the job to afford my ancillary artistic endeavors. But in the future I'm hoping to merge those roads."

JANUARY – WHAT'S HAPPENING

NO SCHOOL
Monday, 1/1, New Year's Day and Monday, 1/15, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, 1/9 7pm.

VISITATION DAY
Our next visitation day is Wednesday, 1/10. It is difficult to understand PSCS without coming to school and observing our activities and student life. Seeing the school in action -- and even participating along with students and staff -- can make the difference between having a basic appreciation of our philosophy and the aha! of really "getting" how it works. For more information visit http://www.pscs.org/admission/visiting.htm.

OPEN HOUSE
PSCS is holding an admissions open house for prospective students on Sunday, 1/21, 1-3pm. Come find out more about the school an see the wonderful opportunities PSCS has to offer. Meet staff, students, and other community members. You can tour the school an pick up an application for 2007-08. For more information visit http://www.pscs.org/admission/openhouse.htm.

PARENT MEETING
Wednesday, 1/31, 7-9pm in Room 211.

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