Snow interrupted this year’s winter term, squeezing two weeks of content into six days of lightning-fast instruction. With a variety of classes on offer, ranging from wilderness survival to the history of horror, Upper School students explored new passions. 

“I found it very enjoyable,” Brooke Dunaway ‘28 said. “I liked having Winter Term to give a buffer between winter break and real school. I wished that the snow days hadn’t happened or that we could have made them up at some point because each class felt so much more rushed than it should have been,” Dunaway said.

Like many freshmen, Dunaway has experienced both a Middle School Winter Term and an Upper School Winter Term. Comparing the two years leads to clear results for her. 

“I think last year was better because the options I chose in middle school were better than in upper school,” She said. “The middle school winter term was amazing! I was in the Little Mermaid Jr. and it was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced.”

“It was better for me this year than last year because the classes were engaging,” Hawk Bergquist ‘27 said. “I took Intro to Mock Trial and How To Ethically Negotiate. This year was more engaging because the teacher took feedback from the trial year last year.”

Unlike the underclassmen, senior students participated in off-campus experiences during Winter Term, and most either shadowed a professional or conducted an internship under a mentor. Frequently, students looked to gain experience in a field which they hope to enter. 

“I shadowed a hospitalist at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, which was cool,” Sanjana Gandhi ‘25 said. “I got to see a lot of patients, I got to see a lot of the pathology of the cases, and it was overall an enjoyable experience.”

Gandhi also noted differences between her 11th-grade and 12th-grade experiences. “Last year, I took Mr. [Andy] Cox’s Speech and Debate class, and I also took Mr. [Al] B’s Makerspace class, so those were fun. I was doing work in those classes, whereas with shadowing it was very laid back. They’re both fun but hard to compare,” Gandhi said.

“It’s a nice way to start the school year because you don’t have school for almost a month, and you kind of ease back into the school schedule rather than immediately having classes, so I enjoy that,” Gandhi said.

This year, most faculty members were in charge of teaching one course. 

“I taught Murder Mystery Dinner Party, and it went well,” said Tex Tourais, English teacher. “I had 32 kids, so we broke them into two dinner parties, and they played a game called ‘Murder on the Night Train.’ Somebody gets killed and they’ve got to figure it out. A lot of them came in costume, and they really embraced the idea.” 

“They really had fun,” he said. “They certainly worked. I don’t know if it was hard, but I hope they didn’t feel a lot of pressure. They produced something that the other kids could experience. I think that puts some pressure on them to not just blow the course off. Learning wise, hopefully, they learned some things about character, narrative, and plot, and hopefully, they learned about game theory and how to build an experience.” 

Despite the snowy interruption, this year was easier for some. Comparing the two years of winter term, Tourais said, “It was easier than last year. The first year you teach something it’s always fun and exciting but there’s always more work. Now, you’ve already done it once so it doesn’t have that first-time charm. I had more kids so I wasn’t in my room, and that was a ton of fun.”