What's A-Term?
This year, students found their A-Term “classrooms” in the steep ravines of Starved Rock State Park, the rich architecture of historic Chinatown, the storied halls of nearby colleges and universities, and many other places you might not expect.
A-Term has become a much-anticipated offering among students at UCA, as it allows them one full week in April to focus on one class.
"During A-Term, the whole school pauses regular learning and dives into a different type of learning. Our goal is, when we return to normal class, students have a deeper appreciation for learning in general," said Mrs. Bootsma, Head of Academics. "This week is a highlight for our students every year."
Teachers offer unique courses that students select to participate in for the week. This year, five pairs of faculty and staff prepared experiences for students: Humanity’s Last Chance: Creation and Creative Writing, led by Mrs. Morgan and Mr. Findysz; The Impact of Music, led by Dr. Lucas and Mrs. Fedor; Tactics and Strategy, led by Mr. Friesen and Mr. Sons; Worlds of Chicago, led by Ms. Mikitka and Mrs. Smith; and College tours, led by Mr. Howell and Ms. Pointer.
The Impact of Music
The Impact of Music class visited the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66.
The goal of this class was to expose students to a broad array of music, and learn about its history. Day one began with Earl Webb Sr., also known as MC1Love, telling the class about his work as an emcee.
The class later made a trip to the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 in Joliet and learned about musicians with ties to Illinois.
“Our tour at the Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 taught the students that even Rock and Roll had its beginnings in Blues. In addition, the Great Migration in the early 1900s contributed greatly to the expansion of Blues and subsequently Rock and Roll,” Dr. Lucas said.
Students also created their own music using on an MPC X device, an all-in-one beatmaking digital audio workstation. They used instruments, keyboards, and vocals to create music on the device, ultimately performing it live and having it recorded at Senses to Soul School of Music.
Sophomore Kasumi Hopkins said the class made it clear to her just how many music genres exist. She also enjoyed singing as part of the live recording.
“We did a mash-up of different songs,” she said. “I sang Party in the USA and I sang Don’t You Forget About Me.”
Worlds of Chicago
At GRIP Youth Outreach, students were asked to develop ideas for a teen outreach program.
“The purpose of the Worlds of Chicago A-Term course was to give students an opportunity to explore three different ‘worlds’ of Chicago — the North side, West side, and South side — in order to observe examples of wonder, heartbreak, and hope in various communities,” Ms. Mikitka said.
Students went to Ping Tom Park for lunch in Chinatown, and walked around the Garfield Park Conservatory. At GRIP Youth Outreach, students were asked to develop ideas for a teen outreach program.
Mrs. Smith said she enjoyed “having students be in awe at the Garfield Park Conservatory and not even knowing it is on the west side of Chicago, where many only hear about crime happening.”
Students also made final projects in the form of posters, vlogs, blogs, and presentations. These projects focused on seeing Chicago through the categories of wonder, heartbreak, and hope.
Some quotes from student projects: “The dog owner trusts the community around his dog.” — “There was heartbreak in the stories we heard about the low income homes, where the landlord heard their cries but still didn’t take action.” — "There were Chinese people playing Chinese songs in the park, which symbolized hope for us because there was hope in their hearts.”
Tactics and Strategy
Students navigate their way up a rock climbing wall as part of the Tactics and Strategy class.
This class helped students with their communication skills, as well as making good, focused decisions under pressure, and planning multiple steps ahead. Sharing some “legendary moments” together was also a priority, said Mr. Sons.
The two main activities during the week were rock climbing and laser tag.
Mr. Sons said junior Jeremiah Lewis picked a very challenging rock climbing route, fell a lot on his journey to the top, but ultimately conquered it.
“It was a really cool and epic moment,” Mr. Sons said.
The group went to Hobart for laser tag, to a location that specializes in strategic planning.
Jeremiah Johns, a junior, said laser tag was his favorite activity for the week, as the location added mini games and special missions to laser tag.
Playing a strategy board game also stood out in Jeremiah’s memory. “Each move was very important and it really meant something at the end of the game,” he said. “If you’re not doing something with a purpose, it’s useless.”
College tours
UCA students tour Joliet Junior College.
Senior Taliah Smith started A-Term thinking she’d be attending Northern Illinois University next year.
“Now that I’ve seen different options, I’ve gotten to go to other campuses and see the people,” she said. “It was mostly just realizing there was more than just this one school.”
At the end of the week, Taliah is thinking she wants to attend Trinity Christian College.
“I liked how small it was, and that it’s a Christian school,” she said. “I think I’ll be able to connect with people more than I would, probably, at NIU.”
Upperclassmen were given priority for this class, which toured five colleges — one each day of A-Term. The class visited Illinois Wesleyan University, Joliet Junior College, Eastern Illinois University, Trinity Christian College, and Dominican University.
The inclusion of a variety of college types was intentional, Mr. Howell said. “It allowed students to visualize themselves as college students, and this is a powerful tool because I firmly believe that once you can visualize yourself as something, you are then able to work toward making that visualization into a reality.”
Mr. Howell said the class caused one student to be interested in attending college after UCA, something he’d not been interested in before.
“The best moment for me was witnessing how enthusiastic and engaged the UCA students were as they discovered the value of continued education, and the various paths available to them, whether that be a community college, a small university, or a large one,” Ms. Pointer said.
Humanity’s Last Chance: Creation and Creative Writing
This class brought students out into God’s creation to experience its beauty through poetry and scientific observation. One day one, the class visited Starved Rock State Park and hiked for nearly 6 miles.
“It was a gorgeous day, and we were able to really accomplish the ‘see the beauty of God through his Creation’ piece just because of how delightful the park is,” Mrs. Morgan said.
Later in the week, the class went tent camping, braving the cold rain after enjoying time around the campfire.
“Sitting around the campfire and cooking s'mores, hotdogs, bagels, pepperoni, pudgy pies was quite the time! The students were having a blast. Some of them were doing it for the first time too,” Mr. Findysz said.
Freshman Jayden Zamora said the journaling aspect of the week was illuminating for him.
“I’d never written down my thoughts like that, because there was no reason to in my mind. But finally writing down my thoughts and seeing what I wrote, it was very clarifying to me,” he said. “Just having the ability to sit down now and experience life, more than just what meets the eye, is very fascinating to me.”
Jayden also said he’s largely kept up the phone-free practice enforced during the class, and has enjoyed using his phone less.