JanTerm
JanTerm is one of the most exciting times of the year for Upper School students. During the three-week period, Upper School students focus on a single topic in great depth and at an accelerated pace. Each JanTerm course offers cross-disciplinary experiences in the classroom and off campus—seeing real-world impact is a vital part of the experience. JanTerm fosters collaboration and provides venues for students to create, innovate and problem-solve outside of their academic classes.
JanTerm Highlights
Each year, students choose from more than 40 JanTerm offerings. Courses cover a range of topics including business, history, sports, global cultures, technology, and so much more! Below, view highlights from courses offered during JanTerm23.
Global Education: Monks and Monarchs
This course explores the shifting political landscapes and sacred spaces of England from the Roman period to present. Students study how England broke away from the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century by visiting sites including Henry VIII’s Hampton Court Palace and Canterbury Cathedral, among others. Students also visit sites of devotion and power in and around York, Durham, and Lindisfarne in the North.
Global Education: Holy Land Documentaries
Students learn about the geographic and archeological contexts of the narratives in the Bible while making documentary films to share their knowledge with all our students. Students learn the historical, geographic, and archaeological background associated with texts; develop scripts for films; learn filming techniques; travel to the Biblical sites in Israel; film their documentaries; and edit video to produce high-quality documentaries.
Leadership Encounter: Meet the Leaders Shaping Atlanta
In this course, students go out into the city to gain a perspective on Atlanta's successes and stumbles, and to learn from the leaders influencing where we should go next. From poverty to entrepreneurialism, soaring corporate headquarters to gritty nonprofits, this course looks for the connections that create our interdependence and drive the need to collaborate. Students learn from leaders at all levels and in all sectors who are working to improve our hometown as they share their own leadership journeys with the class.
Southern Visions: Folk Art
This course explores a number of self-taught folk art environments around Georgia and Alabama, rooted in themes of race, religion, and nature. Students in the course immerse themselves in Southern art with an eye on how the American South is constantly evolving. Students engage in the storytelling and symbolism of folk art by creating their own works.
Global Education: Voices of Resilience
The Jewish people have endured centuries of exile and genocide. In the midst of this adversity, they have demonstrated remarkable resilience. This course explores the history of the Jewish experience and antisemitism from antiquity to the present. Using firsthand accounts, literature, film, art, and immersive travel, students analyze the origins, varied manifestations, and persistence of antisemitism today. Students also examine the psychology and neuroscience of group dynamics and the strategies that leaders use to appeal to innate cognitive biases. Students travel to the Czech Republic and Poland to visit various historic sites including concentration camps, museums, and synagogues.
History of American Sports
In many ways, sports history is a microcosm of American society and history, overlapping in themes like heroism, the triumph of good over evil, struggle and perseverance, community or regional pride, patriotism, and the American Dream. Through the lens of popular and documentary film, students in this course explore the intersection of sports with key points in our nation’s history. Students discuss themes like segregation and the breaking of color barriers, gender inequity and Title IX, various Olympic Games and their political underbellies, the Cold War, and sports in rural America.
Stringing It All Together: Communication, Thread, and Yarn
Students explore how communities and cultures have used knitting, quilting, needlepoint, jewelry making, and more to tell family stories, heal and support, create patterns, and send secret messages.
Raku Ceramics & The Japanese Tea Ceremony
Students immerse themselves in the history and culture of Raku ceramics and the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Students examine the history of 16th-century Japan and traditional examples of Raku along with the American version of the practice developed in the 1950s. As part of the course, students make their own “Tea Bowl” using different traditional clay forming techniques and firing them in an outdoor gas kiln.
International Atlanta
Students explore the rich culture and history of Atlanta’s major immigrant communities. Students learn about Colombia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Korea, India, Vietnam and other countries by listening to personal stories and taking frequent field trips to restaurants. Students also visit various organizations that work with Atlanta’s international communities.
JanTerm is such an important opportunity because it allows you to dabble in new areas or try something on a more intense level for the three weeks that the course is offered. JanTerm has made my Westminster experience even better as it allowed me to find new areas of interest, make new friends, and travel the world!Jamison S. ’25
JanTerm24 By the Numbers
Engaging, experiential, cross-disciplinary and project-based learning.
135K+
Miles traveled during JanTerm
42
Courses
380
Field trips
40
On-campus speakers
39
Internships
9
Years running and counting!