Students Live Well During January Term

In the mornings and evenings, students participated in workshops and presentations about various aspects of wellness, including nutrition, self-care, finance, mental health, sex education, healthy relationships, college counseling, and more. 

In the afternoons, each student explored a topic or two of interest that they normally wouldn’t get to experience in our regular semester curriculum. Courses ranged from understanding surrealism through media, learning to juggle, experimenting with ceramics, examining protests through music, making quilts, and much more. 

“I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed learning something new. I had never sewn or quilted before, and we got to learn the whole process of it,” Anne Rachel Sheppard '27

 said of her experience in the Quilting! course.

On Jan. 12, many classes headed off campus for experiential field trips, which included myriad opportunities for learning. The Regions of France class participated in a cooking class, learning to make quiche and crêpes. Hooray for Hollywood! enjoyed a movie and a behind the scenes tour of the theater. Yoga: History & Practice visited the Satchidananda Ashram at Yogaville where they went through a guided session with one of the instructors. Several groups visited museums to see their topics displayed in real life. 

New to January Term this year, the School organized the “Women In…” Speaker Series to introduce students to new perspectives and industries. The series featured five presentations from women working in careers and fields that are or have historically been male-dominated. Learn more about the “Women In…” Speaker Series here. 

“My favorite part of January Term was the evening programming because a lot of the speakers had a lot to do with what I’m interested in, especially engineering. It wasn’t just lectures about what they do and why they do it, but it was also about how to help us, how to get into schools, and if they were an alumna, what they did at Chatham Hall to help them prepare for a career,” said Ana Charway ‘26, who participated in the LEGO Challenge course. 

To close out the session, all students and faculty participated in an expo on Jan. 19 to showcase what they learned and experienced throughout the term. In Lee Library and various locations around campus, each class shared their story, gave demonstrations, or showed off the fruits of their labor, including bracelets made using a loom, presentations, LEGO structures, and lots of bread. 

Visit the School’s SmugMug and Instagram to see more January Term pictures. You can learn more and see the full course list on our January Term page.