Senior School students ended the school year engaged in real-world learning experiences driven by the Immersives program. Now in its second year, Immersives lets students apply classroom knowledge in a practical, cross-disciplinary setting, enhancing their sense of purpose and preparing them for opportunities in college and beyond.

Following last year’s successful launch, faculty focused on enhancing this year’s catalog of 28 course offerings in a number of ways. “We invest time in thoughtful reflection on each course every year,” says Senior School Spanish Teacher Blaire Modic P’32,’34. “A lot of improvement comes from that reflection and feedback from students and their families.”

After receiving positive notes about the off-campus activities tied to last year’s Immersives, the total number of planned outings increased by 20% this year. New off-campus ventures included a walk-through of The Carnegie Museum of Art’s Carnegie International and visits to the Kelly Strayhorn Theater.

Throughout the year, faculty received professional development training on methods and strategies for forming teams that learn together. With that training in mind, faculty teams introduced three new topics to this year’s course catalog: “Antigone in the Echo Chamber: Media, Myth, and Perception,” “Backstage Pass: The Art and Practice of Technical Theatre,” and “Economics of Gentrification.”

Many of the most in-demand courses offered off-campus excursions that took students beyond Pittsburgh's borders for overnight experiences. Students who participated in “A River Runs Through Pitt: Biology, Literature, and Fly-Fishing” traveled to stay near populated trout streams in Central Pennsylvania; students in “Pedal Power: The Science, Culture, and Adventure of Cycling” took a weeklong bike trip to Washington D.C. via the The Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath; and students in “Preserving Pennsylvania: The History, Culture, and Ecology of Public Lands” spent two nights each at Clear Creek and Rickets Glenn State Parks.

Modic says he expects excursions to increase in the coming years. “Excursions are the anchoring experiences of Immersives,” he explains. “They help students go hands-on and feel the relevance of what they are studying. They put a human face on ideas and problems that can otherwise seem abstract or hypothetical.”

With two years complete, Shady Side faculty will continue to reflect on Immersive experiences and develop engaging courses for future programs.