Winterim

Leaders: Gregory Drugan and Adam Steele
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 5-10
Cost: FREE
Description: In the early 1990's, the internet was not the same source of information as it is today. If you wanted to hear a song, you might call up the local radio station to make a request. If you wanted to find new music, you could talk to friends, go to a nearby record store, or if you were in range, listen to a college radio station. Cassette tapes and compact discs were the main audio format. If you had a boombox, it was easy to copy a cd onto a cassette to trade music or make mixed tapes. The music you listened to was heavily influenced by what played on the radio and what was available and popular in record stores. Finding new music was a rare treat.
The thesis of this Winterim is that given the timing of the event, Nirvana's November 18, 1993 MTV Unplugged in New York concert was a singularly influential performance. Not only did the band play an acoustic set, but they covered songs by lesser known artists Leadbelly, Meat Puppets, and The Vaselines. In this Winterim, we will explore the music and artists that inspired Kurt Cobain, those who were his contemporaries, and those who he inspired. Themes of identity, feminism, and activism will be prevalent throughout the week.
This will be a local course, but with a day trip to Seattle to visit MoPOP. 

Leaders: CT Henry and Bettina Gregg
Student Leader: Maeve L.
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 8-12
Cost: FREE
Description: Sherlock Holmes is known for his powers of thought and observation. Our Winterim will ask: Is Sherlock's extraordinary intellect merely a gift of fiction, or can we learn to cultivate these abilities ourselves to improve our minds and our lives? We will explore Holmes’s unique methods of ever-present mindfulness, astute observation, and logical deduction. Like Holmes, we will attempt to train your brain to work more effectively with brain teasers, puzzles, games, and two trips to escape rooms. A former homicide detective will also walk students through a real investigation.

Leaders: Maggie Gilbride and Evan Britton
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 5-10
Cost: FREE
Description: We will be traveling to downtown Portland each day to engage with the Chinese Elder community and Clay Street Table food bank. We will volunteer to run the food bank on Thursdays (starting with the Asian Pantry and ending with the Community Pantry), and will learn about how Clay Street Table gives back to the Portland Community. We will also connect with the Chinese Elder community and conduct interviews with the Elders, giving them the opportunity to share stories about their history, immigration, and lives in Portland. We will go to the Portland Chinatown Museum on Friday to learn about the history of Chinese immigration in Oregon, and prepare for these interviews. Then the following week we will film the interviews, culminating in a group making experience and shared meal. We will also be eating Chinese food downtown! Service hours will be given during the times that we are volunteering with Clay Street Table and conducting interviews; there will also be opportunities for service hours after the Winterim experience as we edit the interviews and create a final product to present to Clay Street Table and the Chinese Elder community.

Leaders: Peter Kimball and Anna Fortner
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 4-12
Cost: $50
Description: In this course, students will explore (and take part in) climate activism through art. Renowned climate poetry comic, Madeleine Jubilee Saito, will join us, hopefully in person, as we plan our works. Some students will create art by isolating pigments from nature (charcoal from recent burn areas, plant/soil extracts), others will create digital works that reflect the regional climate-affected areas that we will visit (recent burn areas, dams, clearcut forests, etc).
Madeleine will provide experienced guidance as we work to communicate our ideas through our selected media. At the end, a collection of created art will be published.

Leaders: Taposhi Biswas and Rachel Van Wickle
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 6-16
Cost: FREE
Description: In this Winterim, we propose several activities related to using Computer Science to positively impact the nearby community.  Possible activities include teaching/introducing coding to students at the OES Middle School; building a website to make the materials we use available to the public; reaching out to local NGOs and NPOs to offer data analysis and/or coding solutions; mini-courses on Computer Science that would not typically be encountered in the OES curriculum; guest speaker from (or field trip to) a nearby college, university, or corporation.

Leaders: Robin O’hara and Nathalie Michiels
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 5
Cost: FREE
Description: The OES Discovery program is a five-day, 40-hour apprenticeship or career exploration open to OES 10th, 11th, 12th graders. Discovery is a guided process through which the student creates his/her own program to pursue special passions and interests. Discovery gives students a chance to experience the demands and structure of the “working world.” Students who are interested in participating in Discovery need to contact Robin O'Hara for more details. If you sign up for Discovery, you will need to have a committed mentor and plan in place by mid-January. Failure to secure a mentor will result in being placed in any local Winterim that has open spots.

Leaders: Rob Orr and Emmanuelle Bournival
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 5-12
Cost: FREE
Description: Students will experience VR through Oculus headsets, using free trial versions of the Time Magazine's top 100 inventions for 2020 "Supernatural" and free software for travel and meeting, and other interactive, collaborative games of puzzles, sports or games. The direction and daily plans will be adjusted based on student interest and available software. Guest speakers will include Rob's family members who have been involved in software development and users since March 2020. Field trips will be in the virtual universe, and may include all of the international trip locations and domestic venues as well.

Leaders: Julie Sikkink and Stephen Pyle
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 8-12
Cost: FREE
Description: We will learn about cheese through a field trip to a working dairy farm (mine) and a local artisanal cheesemaking operation, and hopefully with a cheese tasting led by an expert. The bulk of the course will be learning how to make a number of different kinds of cheese from scratch. While waiting for different parts of the cheesemaking process, we will also do some cooking with cheese, such as making fondue or raclette or cheese crisps. The cheeses we are likely to make include: ricotta, mozzarella, cream cheese, farmhouse cheddar, feta, & camembert. Aside from 1.5 days on field trips, we will largely be in the project room, working on cheese recipes. You will take home $20-$30 worth of cheese and cheese making equipment for your personal use after the course.
 

Leaders: Dustin Price and Clare Odom
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 4-10
Cost: FREE
Description: During this course students will have opportunities to explore and reflect on some of the highest grossing global stop-motion animation movies like: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Chicken Run, ParaNorman, Corpse Bride, Kubo and the Two Strings, and James and the Giant Peach. Students will engage in divergent thinking practices to study character development and design. Students will also focus on set design and lighting, and photography and animation techniques. Students will create a short animation using stop-motion animation techniques and materials. The role of Portland, OR in the history of stop-motion film production will also be investigated and if possible, students will visit a stop-motion animation production company in the Portland area.

Leaders: Robin O’Hara, Emily Stone, and Pete Bounincontro
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 5-20
Cost: FREE
Description: LS Interns has been a Winterim course for many years because it gives US students the chance to be a little kid again -- but better because you'll be of service to our very own LS community! Lend a helping hand to classroom teachers, PE, Spanish, Music or Art specialists, exercise your leadership and problem-solving skills, play with goofy kids on the playground and make a difference in the life of a little person. You can probably remember how much you looked up to high-schoolers at that age so you'll experience how powerful and gratifying it can be to mentor a younger "you".

Leaders: Cameron Jack and Chance Whitehurst
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 8-12
Cost: $100
Description: Bringing together tech-maker enthusiasts, this Winterim focuses on exploration and skill building in a variety of areas including: Drones and autonomous vehicles, Model aeronautics, Remote controlled systems, Basic robotics and coding (Audrino; DJI Robomaster EP Core), Mechanical and electrical engineering, 3D printing and fabrication, and Battery and solar power systems. Day trips to the flying field Fly-a-Ways in North Plains. Trips to local aviation museums, WAAAM, and Evergreen Space and Aviation Museum.

Leaders: Peter Jewett
Dates: March 16-24
Number of Students: 6-20
Cost: FREE
Description: Be a Student Leader at Northwest Outdoor Science School during Winterim from March 20th - 24th (Mon-Fri). March 16th - March 17th will be on campus at OES in training for preparation of being with students the next week at a designated site. Student Leaders teach fun, hands-on environmental science activities to sixth-grade students each day, and serve as their cabin leaders for the week.  No experience is necessary – all training is provided, including a full day of on-site training the first day (March 20th).  You only need to enjoy children & the outdoors, and be willing to dedicate yourself in full for one week to create a life-changing experience for students.  Visit our website at www.nwoutdoorschool.org for information on our program.  

** You will need to be at Outdoor School from March 20th - 24th (Mon-Fri), at your assigned Outdoor School site until approximately 1:30 PM on March 24th and dropped off back in the Portland area that day at our bus location around 2:30 - 3:30 PM, depending on what site you volunteer at. 30 Service Hours will be given for this course.

Leaders: Andy O’Hara and Przemek Tokarski
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 8-12
Cost: $25
Description:  Portland is renowned as one of the great food cities in America, and what better way to know it than by eating at its best food carts and restaurants. Not only will you get to feast on amazing food, but you will also get first-hand accounts of how they got to where they are today. We will learn from a number of famous Portland-area chefs about their social justice causes and how these guided the mission of their restaurants and food carts. Our daily activities will also be centered on watching thought-provoking films on these social justice issues, followed by engaging discussions and then eating incredible meals at Portland’s best food venues. Come join us for a week of sublime eating, watching, listening, and learning.

Leaders: Sarah Grenert-Funk and Meredith Primm
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 10-12
Cost: $250
Description: Have you always wondered if you have what it takes to join the IMF (Impossible Mission Force)? Do you dream of high-stakes heists in international cities? Can you outrun Tom Cruise on a tarmac and jump onto a moving plane? We are looking for 10-14 recruits to join us in an all-day intense boot camp. In the mornings we will meet in secret to study the best of the best IMF agents by watching them in action in the 6 Mission Impossible films. During the afternoon we will head out to the field for training.
Some of our training experiences during this Winterim boot camp include: sharpening our shooting skills on the paintball field, engaging in old-school weapons training with axe throwing, testing your get-away car driving skills with go-karting, preparing for aerial descents into hostile territories with indoor skydiving, testing your physical fitness on indoor obstacle courses, proving your logic and reasoning in escape rooms.
You and your parents will have to sign dozens of waivers, including a non-disclosure agreement with British intelligence, and risk disavowal from the US government, but it will be worth the paperwork.

Leaders: Josina Reaves and Evan Hansen
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 8-10
Cost: $1800/person
Description: Art is as much an investment as stocks or real estate, and in New York City, the market is always open. On this trip, we'll visit galleries, an auction house, and a museum with a collection built by one family to see how art gets commodified, sold, and collected. This is a trip for people who love art and want to see and inside look at how the art world works.

Leaders: Tyler Hale, Jason Henkle, and Taylor Feldman
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 7-9
Cost: $1400/person
Description: Students will experience two of our national parks. Getting up close and personal with the parks, the students will camp with the support of a vehicle, in Guadalupe National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Students will explore caves and learn about the importance of bats in our ecosystem. They will see incredible geological formations through the cave system. In Guadalupe NP, students will be offered guided hikes to explore the desert terrain. Students will have a chance to stargaze with professionals and see the sky like they never have. Students will participate in the planning and cooking of food, learn the basics of camping, and working with a team.

Leaders: Lindsey Zanchettin, Matt Pigg, and Kri Schlafer
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 9
Cost: $1400/person
Description: The best way to experience and know a place is on foot. We will backpack the entire 38.5 mile Trans-Catalina Island Trail, a hiking and backpacking trail that spans the full length of Santa Catalina Island, one of Southern California's Channel Islands. We will traverse up and over the island's rolling mountainous terrain and camp each night in established campgrounds near the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. Each day of backpacking will offer us expansive and stunning views of the Southern California coastline and the big ocean beyond, and there will be an opportunity to paddle in kayaks along the shoreline. After taking a ferry to the island from Long Beach, we will start and end our trip in the charming city of Avalon, the island's only incorporated city. Be prepared to challenge yourself physically and mentally, support and encourage your fellow backpackers, and come away from the trip with a deeper appreciation for nature's many wonders and lessons.
*** Participants in this Winterim course must be comfortable with carrying a fully loaded backpack for up to 8 miles per day.

Leaders: Maego Powers and Joshua Caditz
Dates: March 16-22
Number of Students: 10-12
Cost: $1800/person
Description: Travel with us to Northern Minnesota to enjoy an experience unlike any other. We will spend four days on the lakes and trails of the Boundary Waters, driving two-person sleds with a team of four to five Inuit dogs each. Experienced guides will provide hands-on training on the first day, and then you will handle your own team of dogs, including feeding and harnessing them every morning. We will stay in lakeside lodges each night (with an option to camp outside one night!). There will be a chance to try snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, a polar plunge, and a Finnish sauna. We will also pay a visit to the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota, to observe and learn about the native timber wolves. Get ready for an amazing experience, and prepare to fall in love with dogsledding!

Leaders: Shahid Al-Jawhari and Tommy Kane
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 8-10
Cost: $1400/person
Description: We will spend the week exploring the beautiful and unique area of Joshua Tree National Park and the surrounding area. The first two days of the course will be spent doing spectacular day hikes in a remote area of the park with a local backpacking guide. We will then spend a day exploring the towns of Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms,  before spending the next two days rock climbing with two professional climbing guides in one of the most iconic rock climbing destinations in the world!  We will spend our last day on a jeep tour of the San Andreas Fault, while exploring the natural history, native people/history, and the flora/fauna of this unique desert landscape. All nights will be spent car camping at camp sites in and close to the national park. The last night of the course will be spent in a rented AirBnB house in Palm Springs before flying back to Portland the next day.

Leaders: Tom Handel, David Rosenberg, and Matt Bedrin
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 9
Cost: $1000/person
Description: One of the best ways to enjoy winter and find solitude and fun in the Pacific Northwest is to go backcountry skiing. This course is designed to give you a taste of backcountry life and possibly start a lifelong pursuit of backcountry skiing and/or snowboarding. This course is recommended for students who are already competent skiers or snowboarders. The first day of Winterim will be spent on campus learning about the backcountry ski trip location in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest, preparing all the food and gear needed for this trip, checking for proper clothing and learning about how we manage the risks associated with backcountry skiing and snowboarding. The second day, Friday, we will pick up the rented (if you don’t already own your own) skis or snowboard, boots, climbing skins, probes, beacons and shovels and head up to Mt. Hood to try the gear out on the slopes next to one of the ski resorts (TBD). On Saturday we will drive a full day out to the southwest corner of the Wallowas mountain range just 20 miles outside of Bakers City, OR which is situated in the northeast corner of our state. We will spend Saturday night at White Fir Retreat. The next morning we get towed by snowmobile 8 miles to our trailhead and ski approximately 2 miles into our own private hut system with a full kitchen yurt, two wall tents with stoves and beds. You’ll get to experience the awesome splendor of the Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon during the winter without having to carry a huge backpack, since these huts are outfitted with bedding and stoves. We will spend four nights at these same huts and travel out each day to explore and find slopes that are suitable to ride. On Thursday morning we’ll leave the splendor of the wilderness and ski back to our vehicles at White Fir Retreat, where we can shower before we make the 5 hour drive back to OES by early evening. This course includes instructors, food, avalanche equipment rental, all lodging (including backcountry huts), meals, and transportation. It does not include backcountry skis or split board rental (however we have a discounted deal at The Mountain Shop).

Leaders: Erika Jelinek, Miki Darby, and Mitra Abidi
Dates: March 16-23
Number of Students: 7-9
Cost: $1800/person
Description: Students will experience and delve deeply into the Yellowstone ecosystem, with a special emphasis on the wolves of Yellowstone and their role in trophic cascades. Programming will be delivered by Yellowstone Forever Institute, the official educational partner of Yellowstone National Park. We will spend four full days in the field with trained naturalists and scientists, potentially partnering with the Yellowstone Wolf Project (depending on availability). Students will ethically observe Yellowstone’s incredible range of wildlife with the guidance of Yellowstone Forever’s naturalists, and will participate in citizen science projects to assist in ongoing research in the park. We will stay at Yellowstone Forever’s Overlook Field Campus, located just outside the park in Gardiner, Montana. There will also be opportunities to snowshoe and visit local hot springs (if allowed). Students will be able to walk away with a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of the natural world, something that they can bring with them wherever they go in their futures.

This course is focused on creating and cultivating transformative leadership development experiences for OES student-athletes. In partnership with the internationally recognized program Beyond Sports, OES student-athletes will embark on a nine-day adventure to Costa Rica. This is a custom Beyond Sports program that combines sports, service learning, and global engagement. The group will travel to three different regions of Costa Rica, exposing students to the rich cultural and ecosystem diversity within the country. Multiple sports clinics with local youth in partnership with local athletes will allow students to immerse in local sports culture while furthering and enhancing their understanding of and experiences in the power of sports. There will also be time to explore some of the beautiful beaches and jungles with a surfing and ziplining excursion. Overall, a large component of the course will be focused on leadership development and reflection sessions, along with service learning events designed to encourage students to think critically about their role as global citizens.
Faculty Leaders: Melissa Smith, Nick Slenning, Paige Witte
Student Leaders: Cayton S., Sam S.
Cost: $3900
Dates: March 16–24
Number of Students: 15–18
Additional Information

Greece 2023 is a go! In partnership with WorldStrides, a global leader in student experiential education and immersive learning, this course is focused on all things Greece. Your OES years have prepared you for this course… The Iliad, Odysseus, the Trial and Death of Socrates, The Song of Achilles… you’ve heard about the bluest of blue waters, studied images of some of the oldest buildings in the world, you’ve read the tales of the Greek gods’ quarrels. We start in one of the oldest cities in the world, Athens, Greece, where we will walk and shop where the ancient Greeks walked 3500 years ago. We will visit the world-famous Acropolis Parthenon, the Theatre of Dionysus, and many more temple architectural sites. We will eat traditional Greek cuisine, including delicious Moussaka, and will engage in a Greek dance lesson. From there we will sail on the Aegean sea visiting some of the beautiful islands in the Cyclades. Our trip winds down back on the mainland with a trip to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and finally, we will have the amazing opportunity to interact with the local community in Athens by engaging in a math class! 
Faculty Leaders: Liz Weiler, Asha Appel
Student Leaders: Mia F., Sophia M.
Cost: $4500
Dates: March 17–26
Number of Students: 14
Additional Information

In this course, students' learning outcomes will be built around constructing a strong foundation of knowledge and understanding of geothermal power. Iceland is heralded as being the only country that runs on 100% geothermal power. By exploring environmental regenerative practices, students will broaden and deepen their understanding of how geothermal energy is processed and used in innovative ways to maximize energy output. How will students do this?  
Part of the course will be exploring and learning about the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), a growing network of regenerative communities and initiatives that bridge cultures, countries, and continents. Students will seek to understand and learn from perspectives beyond their own by spending time working with GEN, which catalyzes communities for a regenerative world. Just outside Reykjavik the group will visit a power plant and get an in-depth look at how geothermal energy is processed. This power plant is located at Hengill, an active volcanic ridge in southwest Iceland. Additionally, this course explores how natural hot springs help grow tomatoes all year long and hear a brief history of the Icelandic horses! Come and join us as we listen, collaborate and learn from an inspirational community committed to regenerative practices!
Faculty Leaders: Carmen Boyle and Maria McIvor
Student Leaders: Christine Z., Sean M.
Cost: $4500
Dates: March 16–23
Number of Students: 10–12
Additional Information

Pourquoi Martinique? As a focused French language learning and immersion course, we will dive in and experience a dynamic island culture while practicing our everyday French. In partnership with Vamonos, a leader in regional immersive student experience, we will be afforded the opportunity to explore how Martinique stands at the intersection of French colonialism, independence, and Caribbean culture. On this eight day course, we’ll use our French language skills in new and practical ways as we visit historic museums, participate in a Marintique cuisine cooking class, or even check out how a local organic banana farm operates. These adventures, led and facilitated by our local guides, will give us an insider's look at this island’s art and food scene, as well as explore its unique natural landscape that includes volcano hikes, coral reef snorkeling, waterfall hikes, and a sunset paddle. Every day also affords us some time to enjoy the island’s famous beaches and local cafes, all of which invite us to practice our real world French. This course is open to students with a background in French or who have taken year two or above. Viens avec nous! 
Faculty Leaders: Katrina Perry, Autumn Apperson
Student Leaders: Kaitlyn O.
Cost: $4300–$4500 Depending on final enrollment numbers
Dates: March 16–24  +/- 1 day for travel flexibility
Number of Students: 12–16
Additional Information

From K-pop to the Netflix series ‘Squid Game’ and the Oscar success of the film Parasite, South Korea's pop culture is conquering the world. Winterim in South Korea gives students an opportunity to visit South Korea with an emphasis on exploring its unique history and its current position in global culture. By partnering with WorldStrides, a global leader in student experiential education and immersive learning, students will learn about and visit a variety of South Korean museums and monuments including the Gyeongbok Palace, National Folk Museum visit, Insadong Cultural Street, and Namdaemun open-air market. Another highlight of the course is spending the day in Busan, which is known for its stellar beaches, Buddhist Temples and hiking trails. Students will also travel to the Korean Demilitarized Zone where they will see firsthand the barrier that separates North and South Korea. This historic and contemporary landmark includes an observatory that allows them to get as close to North Korea as possible. In addition to visiting key sites in South Korea, students will learn about aspects of Korean culture such as food, fashion and popular culture. Elements of the trip may be customized to take advantage of a unique list of OES contacts that afford our group special access and insights into Korean historic and cultural locations and experiences.
Faculty Leaders: Ed Cecere, Gowri Meda, Stephanie Portman
Student Leaders: Serena S., Lydia C., Jun L.
Cost: $4500 
Dates: March 17–26
Number of Students: 18
Additional Information