Emery’s New Experiential Education Programming

Recently, Emery has made groundbreaking changes to their Experiential Education Program which has brought about understandable angst but also excitement among the student body.

The changes were centered around four essential questions the Head of School, Stuart Dow, and the Director of Experiential Education, Casey Fleming, have heavily considered over the past three years with the goal of redefining and improving the Experiential Education program. These questions were mentioned in a recent address by Dow to the Emery Community via email. He wrote,  “How can the experiences most effectively connect with educational goals and classroom curriculum? How can the timing of these experiences best achieve identified goals… impact other key areas of the Emery experience? How can the number and length of trips maximize value? How can the program enrich Jewish life?”

With these questions in mind, a newly reimagined Experiential Education program was created that will be implemented this coming 2023-2024 school year. One notable change is that trip timing has been shifted. Both the Shabbatonim and Spring Trips will be later in the year to take advantage of better weather and to create a culminating learning experience that students can build toward throughout the school year. As a result of this shift, the Shabbatonim, which would usually be during late August but are now during early October fall on Simchat Torah this year. Additionally, the usual winter and spring trips have been removed from the program and were replaced with one culminating “Spring Summit” that will take place in May, two weeks before finals, for seven full days. To make up for this loss of a trip the program will implement “Wed Ex” days where throughout the school year specific Wednesdays have been picked to do local programming that will build critical interpersonal and academic skills for all students.    

In response to the newly revamped program, Junior Joshua Danziger stated, “Although the changes to the program as a whole seem positive for the student body, I am concerned that the Shabbaton will be over Simchat Torah. How will the holiday be observed across 4 separate Shabbatons? How will students cognizant of Jewish law fulfill their religious obligations?”

 He goes on to say that he hopes “the administration will consider moving the date so it does not conflict with this foundational Jewish holiday.”

In contrast, Junior Ethan Canfield noted the positive effects of these changes. “Looking past the scheduling mishaps or growing pains that come with something new, I think the program will offer a new meaningful experience for the student body that will greatly benefit them. Especially, the brand new Wed Ex days which will provide a much-needed opportunity for students to shift their focus away from academics just for a day and see the value in real-world cross-disciplinary collaboration.”

Ultimately, the changes made to the Experiential Education Program are here to stay, but only time will tell as to how students, faculty, and parents will respond to them and how they compare to the old program.