As a way to ease into the second semester, the CESJDS middle school takes a break from the regular class schedule for Minimester: a week-long program that allows students to explore a topic that they are passionate about. From Jan. 22-29, middle schoolers spent the week diving deep into their chosen subject and working on creating a project that reflects their interests and creativity.
While originally created during the COVID-19 pandemic, Minimester has since become a valued part of the school’s curriculum. According to the Chair of Experiential and Service Learning Rachel Meytin, the goal of Minimester is to give students a break from the typical learning structure and allow them to think in creative ways.
“It lets them do something completely different and not worry about, ‘Am I going to get a good grade in math? Am I going to get into the advanced history class?’ or whatever it is,” Meytin said. “It’s so separate–[it] lets them focus on something without that stress and just explore and reset their brains before the second semester, and it gives them a chance to play with ideas, rather than feeling that stress.”
Minimester works differently across the grades. Sixth grade students are required to work individually on their projects, however seventh and eighth grade students can choose to work in pairs.
Additionally, the eighth grade students are offered two unique “tracks” if they do not want to do the typical project-based work. One is the Minimester Mentors “track,” where instead of doing their own project, they are paired with one of the sixth or seventh grade classes to help them. The second is a creative writing track.
Aside from working on their projects, each day there are two 45 minute seminar blocks where speakers talk about their passions and interests. Math teacher John Watkins-Chow ran a comic drawing session and science teacher Kimberly Agzigian brought in her therapy dogs.
“We bring in lots of different speakers, and the kids pick which seminar they want to go to,” Meytin said. “So they get some choice, but they also get to hear from really neat people.”
At the end of the program, students presented their projects in front of their class groups, but also had the opportunity to present in front of the whole middle school. So, on the last day of Minimester the gym was set up with different stations where students could showcase their work.
For sixth grade student Leora Breman, the opportunity to explore a personal interest of hers was very meaningful. Breman is passionate about raising awareness for the war in Ukraine and made a website with a guide to different charities that people could donate to.
“It was a good experience because it was a time to get away from regular classes and just focus on something that [I] enjoy,” Breman said.
Besides the fact that Minimester was half the length this year, no major changes were made to the program. Meytin said that they are still trying to figure out the proper length for Minimester.
While they enjoyed the program, both Breman and sixth grade student Maital Kugler wished that the program had been longer so that they had more time to finish their projects. Also, they noted that they think it would have been beneficial to have worked with partners, or to at least have had the option.
Kugler made a presentation about animal testing in skincare products, in order to raise awareness for the issue. Another student also wanted to do her project on skincare, so Kugler felt it would have been nice to have been able to work together.
“If you have a really good idea that you want to do with somebody, or for the same idea we could have done it together, but instead we cannot work together,” Kugler said.
Overall, Meytin feels that Minimester is a unique part of the JDS middle school and a special and fun experience for middle school students.
“They like that it’s completely different that there’s no homework, there’s no tasks,” Meytin said.“They just like that different space, and especially now that it’s been going on since COVID, so it’s been going on long enough that the kids coming in have heard about it from their siblings and so there’s excitement about it which is really fun to see.”
