Course Offerings

As long as there's been a United States, Asian American writers have authored powerful narratives that testify to the diverse, challenging, yet inspiring histories of those of Asian heritage in this nation. While such writers haven't always been acknowledged for their contributions, their significance in American literature is now undeniable—especially in the literature of our own Pacific Northwest! In this class, we will study iconic works of Asian American literature by writers who lived and wrote in the Northwest. Reading these works, students will arrive at a richer understanding of not just regional history, but of the power of storytelling to critique social imbalances of power and call for change. Our class will also visit the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Instructor: Janine "Nina" Hsiao Sobers

Algebra 1 is designed to give students a foundation for all future mathematics courses. This course will cover the fundamentals of algebraic problem-solving. Through the use of interactive lessons and modeling, students will explore: foundations of algebra, solving equations, solving inequalities, an introduction to functions, linear functions, systems of equations and inequalities, exponents and exponential functions, polynomials and factoring, quadratic functions and equations, radical expressions and equations, and data analysis and probability. Common Core standards will be taught and reinforced as the students learn to apply the concepts taught in real-life situations. Instructor: James F. Kinney

Algebra 1 is designed to give students a foundation for all future mathematics courses. This course will cover the fundamentals of algebraic problem-solving. Through the use of interactive lessons and modeling, students will explore: foundations of algebra, solving equations, solving inequalities, an introduction to functions, linear functions, systems of equations and inequalities, exponents and exponential functions, polynomials and factoring, quadratic functions and equations, radical expressions and equations, and data analysis and probability. Common Core standards will be taught and reinforced as the students learn to apply the concepts taught in real-life situations.

Our Algebra 2/Trig curriculum follows closely the ideas and skills described in the Common Core for that subject. These include operations with quadratics and higher order polynomials, work with rational expressions, radical expressions, and complex numbers, transformation of functions and their graphical representations, the fundamental theorems of algebra, including the factor theorem, rational root theorem, as well as trigonometric problem-solving and proofs involving trigonometric identities. To best complete one academic year over the four-week period, a large part of each day will be spent doing small-group work, individual study, and testing. Self-motivation, strong independent learning, and good study habits are essential for success in this highly accelerated and individually paced program. Not all students finish the entire curriculum. Instructor: Pauly

Please note:

Section A and Section B have different instructors but cover the same course material.

This course has prerequisites. Students wishing to register for Algebra 2 must demonstrate that they have successfully completed (or are currently enrolled in) Algebra 1 and Geometry. Please submit evidence of success in these courses (by uploading a relevant report card) during the application process.

Our Algebra 2/Trig curriculum follows closely the ideas and skills described in the Common Core for that subject. These include operations with quadratics and higher order polynomials, work with rational expressions, radical expressions, and complex numbers, transformation of functions and their graphical representations, the fundamental theorems of algebra, including the factor theorem, rational root theorem, as well as trigonometric problem-solving and proofs involving trigonometric identities. To best complete one academic year over the four-week period, a large part of each day will be spent doing small-group work, individual study, and testing. Self-motivation, strong independent learning, and good study habits are essential for success in this highly accelerated and individually paced program. Not all students finish the entire curriculum. Instructor: Zhengkai Li

Please note: Section A and Section B have different instructors but cover the same course material.

This course has prerequisites. Students wishing to register for Algebra 2 must demonstrate that they have successfully completed (or are currently enrolled in) Algebra 1 and Geometry. Please submit evidence of success in these courses (by uploading a relevant report card) during the application process.

Our Algebra 2/Trig curriculum follows closely the ideas and skills described in the Common Core for that subject. These include operations with quadratics and higher order polynomials, work with rational expressions, radical expressions, and complex numbers, transformation of functions and their graphical representations, the fundamental theorems of algebra, including the factor theorem, rational root theorem, as well as trigonometric problem-solving and proofs involving trigonometric identities. To best complete one academic year over the four-week period, a large part of each day will be spent doing small-group work, individual study, and testing. Self-motivation, strong independent learning, and good study habits are essential for success in this highly accelerated program. Instructor: Reese Johnston

Through paired historical and contemporary works of literature from the 18th to 21st centuries, students will study the development of American national narratives and myths such as "manifest destiny, "the "American dream," and the "melting pot," as well as how recent literature has challenged those ideals in the face of social inequities. Students will be guided through "close reading" and "rhetorical reading" practices, to develop literary analyses that consider literary form and intersectional issues of racism, patriarchy, and nationalism. Students will produce short essays and creative writing that respond to the readings and class discussions. In addition to developing reading and writing skills, students will have a better understanding of how literature has historically shaped and amplified American ideals and myths, as well as how contemporary literature can and does reconsider and reshape those ideas towards a more equitable future. Instructor: Anne Duncan

This is a reading, lecture, and laboratory course that covers the basic high school chemistry curriculum and provides an understanding of why materials in our world behave as they do. Students must have completed first year Algebra or equivalent to apply. Instructors: Jeannine Sieler & Melvin Soetrisno

How can we use experimentation, collaboration, and even silliness to make our writing more compelling? In this course, we'll explore various forms of creative and academic writing with an emphasis on writing as an act of discovery. Through essays, poems, and short fiction, we'll practice advancing our thinking on the page and taking chances that help us connect to our audience. We'll dive deep into the steps of the writing process—from brainstorming to drafting to revision—and use reading, field trips, visual art, film, and more to inspire our work. Students will come away with a portfolio of polished pieces. Instructor: Liza Birnbaum

Epiphanies: sudden and surprising moments of understanding. When they come, they are sources of immense joy to those engaging in the process of inquiry. In literature, they leave readers with a lasting impression. Through epiphanies, creative writers provide their audience with a pathway towards meaningful realizations of their own. This course will explore these moments in contemporary poetry, creative prose, and creative nonfiction. Through these texts, students will learn how creative writers cultivate public scholarship that engages with critical discussions of positionality through the lens of race, gender, and class. With a capstone project--a portfolio of original critical and creative writing--students will depart with a toolbox of skills for collegiate research, gathered through the development of their own writing practice. Instructor: Reginald Kent

Texts and communication today are getting more complicated with the fusion of multiple modes like words, images, audios, videos, and overwhelming information. So, traditional text-based literacy is not enough for today's students; they need awareness and skills to integrate multiple modes to make meaning in both reading and writing. Moreover, texts tend to be biased with authors' personal intentions and philosophical orientation, so students need critical thinking and reading strategies to consume the right messages. This course will enhance their reading strategies across literary and non-literary genres. Students will be engaged in critical reading and response to texts, investigation of power relations and hierarchies in texts, metacognition, crafting arguments, and developing multimodal composition/projects. Instructor: Jeevan Karki

Moving from research to design implication, students will build a unique toolbox for reading the built environment and how it influences happiness. Real-world explorations in urban contexts will strengthen their analytical skills as they build multisensory insights and recognize expanded ways of knowing. Bringing their insights into the studio, students will engage in iterative design processes, testing tools and techniques used in architectural and urban design practice including scale drawing, spatial-conceptual diagrams, participatory engagement, group charrettes, model building, and installation design. Instructors: Rebecca Habtour and Bart Boom

How are individuals molded in relation to the world? How do social forces limit, motivate, and even construct the self? What are the relations between different subject positions and the way the world is structured? This course explores these complex questions by reading several literary and cinematic memoirs from twentieth-century America, and by composing our own memoirs. Through our engagement with literature, film and video, and critical texts, we will develop our reading, writing, and thinking, working to elaborate individual and collective practices of study. Instructor: Gust Burns

Long before the ancient Greeks began their journey of science and philosophy, humans were enchanted by light. Why and how does light intermingle with matter, like air and water? Where does light come from? What is the nature of starlight from the heavens compared to the bioluminescence from the seas? Through discussion and experimentation, this course will follow the development of our understanding of light and matter, from early Islamic knowledge to Einstein's questioning of space and time, to the revolutionary quantum research being conducted today. Finally, we'll study the nature of science itself. The birth of optics, Edison bulbs, spectral emissions, glow sticks, LEDs, solar energy, cell phone displays, quantum computing – together these tell a version of our human story through the ages, through the lens of light and matter.

Students will understand fundamental concepts regarding planes and solid shapes. They will also know how to develop and apply common properties and formulas to solve problems in geometry. Finally, students will be able to apply principles of logic to prove theorems in geometry and learn how to extend this logic to other academic disciplines. To accomplish these goals, we will be covering Chapters 1 through 13 in the Holt McDougal textbook, at a pace of roughly one chapter per day. Each day will consist of individual work time, small-group work, and an assessment. Self-motivation, strong independent learning, and strong study habits are essential for success in this highly accelerated and individually paced program. Not all students finish the entire curriculum. Instructor: Thomas Ames

Please note:

Section A and Section B have different instructors but cover the same course material.

This course has a prerequisite. Students wishing to register for Geometry must demonstrate that they have successfully completed (or are currently enrolled in) Algebra 1. Please submit evidence of success in Algebra 1 (by uploading a relevant report card) during the application process.

Students will understand fundamental concepts regarding planes and solid shapes. They will also know how to develop and apply common properties and formulas to solve problems in geometry. Finally, students will be able to apply principles of logic to prove theorems in geometry and learn how to extend this logic to other academic disciplines. To accomplish these goals, we will be covering Chapters 1 through 13 in the Holt McDougal textbook, at a pace of roughly one chapter per day. Each day will consist of individual work time, small-group work, and an assessment. Self-motivation, strong independent learning, and strong study habits are essential for success in this highly accelerated and individually paced program. Not all students finish the entire curriculum. Instructor: Truman Buffett

Please note:

Section A and Section B have different instructors but cover the same course material.

This course has a prerequisite. Students wishing to register for Geometry must demonstrate that they have successfully completed (or are currently enrolled in) Algebra 1. Please submit evidence of success in Algebra 1 (by uploading a relevant report card) during the application process.

In 2015, the United Nations created 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a call to action for the planet and humanity, with a deadline of 2030.This course will provide students with an understanding of global health challenges and the role of science and technology in achieving these goals. Students will gain knowledge about the importance of sustainability and how science is integral to addressing global economic and social issues. They will engage in hands-on activities that will allow them to explore real-world problems and find actionable solutions. For example, students will learn how chemistry can help alleviate food insecurity and how climate science can help preserve our oceans and forests. Students will leave with knowledge and tools empowering them to make a difference in the world and to understand their role in shaping the future of our planet. Instructors: Tripura Talagadadeevi & Allen Bickham

Biology is defined as the science of life and living organisms. We will investigate the mechanisms of transmission and storage of information that allow organisms to develop, adjust to changing conditions, and evolve over time. We will learn about the processes that drive evolutionary change and diversification, and the meaning and relevance of shared ancestry among all living organisms. We will also explore introductory theory in biotechnology and genetic engineering. Through lectures, discussion-based teaching, inquiry-driven learning, experiments, hands-on projects, lab experiments, and field trips, students will learn the fundamentals of the process of science, the interconnected and interacting nature of organisms and their environments, and the adaptations that organisms evolved to meet these challenges, with a focus on the aquatic biosphere. Instructors: Amina Cesario and Marlena Warner

To become public health experts, clinicians and scientists study the scientific discipline of epidemiology. Epidemiology is the study of how diseases occur and how they are transmitted. Through scientific inquiry and the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, public health experts use this information to understand, control or prevent disease and health problems. This course covers basic epidemiology principles, concepts, and procedures useful in the surveillance and investigating of health-related states or events. This course is designed to introduce students to the background, basic principles, and methods of public health epidemiology. Instructor: Omolara Akingba

Microorganisms are everywhere! In this introductory microbiology course, we will explore the microscopic world around us through laboratory experiments and discussion-based learning. Beyond the fundamentals, students will learn how to interpret the microbiology we encounter every day: news headlines about food poisoning and the flu, the science behind the vaccines we get, and even the microbes that make cheese and yogurt so delicious. We will investigate environmental and pathogenic microbes, the human microbiome, viruses, and more. In our study of microbiology, we will also work with analyzing biological data. Some data can be hard to make sense of without help; we will use computational languages (Python and R) to help us gain insights as to what the data really means. This course is intended to be fast-paced and challenging, but no prior experience is required. Instructors: Shawon Riffat Ara and Ty Bottorff

This is a math (not coding) course that provides students interested in computer science a flavor of the mathematical topics necessary to excel in CS undergraduate degrees. Topics include propositional logic, sets, functions, proofs by induction, contradiction, sequences and series, sums, counting rules, permutations and combinations, story proofs, and probability. In-class activities will consist of solving problems individually and in groups. In addition, you will have quizzes, take-home readings, homework, and projects. You will develop your critical thinking and problem-solving skills while solving some interesting puzzles along the way. You will repeatedly encounter the techniques learned in many areas of computer science and other related disciplines. Instructor: Bee Lim

Ever wonder what it's like to take part in a trial? Introduce evidence? Question witnesses? In this course, students will participate in a mock trial. This introduction to law will include lessons on rules of evidence, cross examination, and courtroom decorum. Students will be a part of every aspect of the trial so come prepared to act as advocate, witness, and jury! Guest speakers from the Seattle legal community will also participate to give students a well-rounded understanding of the practice of law. Instructor: Michelle Nguyen

Ever wonder what it's like to take part in a trial? Introduce evidence? Question witnesses? In this course, students will participate in a mock trial. This introduction to law will include lessons on rules of evidence, cross examination, and courtroom decorum. Students will be a part of every aspect of the trial so come prepared to act as advocate, witness, and jury! Guest speakers from the Seattle legal community will also participate to give students a well-rounded understanding of the practice of law. Instructor: Louis Zheng

Should androids have human rights? Should we make ethical decisions like Spock? In what sense do unicorns exist? Did Harry Potter have free will? In this course, we will explore various philosophical concepts through their presentation in science fiction and fantasy. For example, as modern science progresses, what we once thought of as science fiction at the start of the 20th century is now approaching reality. These questions will help us understand how we think about ourselves, other people, and the world we live in while sharpening our skills in critical thinking, collaborative inquiry, and civil dialogue. Through the use of movies, TV shows, selections from novels, TED Talks, and excerpts of philosophical writing, we will explore the intersections between philosophy, science fiction, and fantasy, and try to answer some of the philosophical questions that have inspired human minds for millennia. Instructors: Nic Jones and Jack Flesher

Precalculus is about building the tools of mathematical problem-solving needed for introductory calculus. We assume enough prior familiarity with algebra to be comfortable with functions and their graphs and with manipulating linear and quadratic equations. The key question behind precalculus could reasonably be phrased as: how are functions applied to real-world situations? Closely related are the further questions: how are functions related to their graphs? And what does the graph of a function tell us about its real-world consequences? All three of these ideas will underlie the various topics in this course. Self-motivation, strong independent learning, and good study habits are essential for success in this highly accelerated and individually paced program. Not all students finish the entire curriculum. Instructor: Reese Johnston

Please note:

Section A and Section B have different instructors but cover the same course material.

This course has prerequisites. Students wishing to register for Precalculus must demonstrate that they have successfully completed (or are currently enrolled in) Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. Please submit evidence of success in these courses (by uploading a relevant report card) during the application process.

Precalculus is about building the tools of mathematical problem-solving needed for introductory calculus. We assume enough prior familiarity with algebra to be comfortable with functions and their graphs and with manipulating linear and quadratic equations. The key question behind precalculus could reasonably be phrased as: how are functions applied to real-world situations? Closely related are the further questions: how are functions related to their graphs? And what does the graph of a function tell us about its real-world consequences? All three of these ideas will underlie the various topics in this course. Self-motivation, strong independent learning, and good study habits are essential for success in this highly accelerated and individually paced program. Not all students finish the entire curriculum. Instructor: Jean Lutgen 

Please note:

Section A and Section B have different instructors but cover the same course material.

This course has prerequisites. Students wishing to register for Precalculus must demonstrate that they have successfully completed (or are currently enrolled in) Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. Please submit evidence of success in these courses (by uploading a relevant report card) during the application process.

The course allows students to experience the full sensory appeal of writing through the active creative process. They will go through all aspects of creative and structured essay writing to fully grasp the range of skills needed to successfully complete a research paper. Through the creative writing aspect of the course they will address the emotional connection to writing; once they grasp that, the students will move on to the structured realm of essay writing, including composition, citations, research methods, and using the MLA Handbook. Instructor: Andrea Rodriguez Santiago

This hands-on introductory course will help students design, build, test, and iterate upon metal VEX V5 robots. Activities will include indoor and outdoor challenges for our robots, such as navigating terrain, hitting targets, and working together. We will apply basic physics concepts such as kinematics, vectors, projectile motion, and linear/circular motion. Some familiarity with algebraic equations and geometry is recommended; we will cover trigonometry functions, the law of sines, and the law of cosines. Students will be expected to maintain an engineering notebook to record their design process during the course. Previous robotics experience is not required. Instructor: A. J. Balatico

The primary goal of this course is to prepare participants for novice and open levels of competitive speech and debate in local, state, and national circuits. The program will emphasize student participation and collaboration in an atmosphere of respect and encouragement. Students will balance rigorous argumentation with communication skills designed to capture and sustain audience engagement. Students will also develop and utilize research tools to analyze philosophical themes common throughout traditional debate, such as utilitarianism and deontology. In-class debate events will include Congressional Debate, Public Forum, and Lincoln-Douglas. Speech events will consist of Impromptu, Extemporaneous Speaking, Expository Speaking, Oratory, Dual Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation and Humorous Interpretation. Instructor: Stephen Thornsberry

Language is a part of everything we do and how we communicate. We will explore the world of linguistics: the scientific study of language. This course is designed to provide an overview of the main subfields of linguistics and how they work together to further our understanding of the nature of language. We will learn about the mechanisms that underlie language--phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics–while learning how to conduct linguistic analysis. We will then explore how to apply this knowledge to the real world and to multiple disciplines, from education and medicine to computation and the law, all while developing research skills through projects and experiments. Using what you have learned, you will be able to construct your own language and conduct linguistic research. Instructor: Ella Ott

Students will sharpen their wits by learning the principles of logic, the art of rhetoric, and the skill of debate. They will discover how to break down claims, use and abuse logical fallacies, and even write sneaky questions that help them get their way. Meanwhile, students will learn the historical and cultural context necessary to participate in today's critical conversations. Honing the art of rhetoric will help students develop critical skills needed for rigorous research, sober argument, and concise expression. Instructor: Josh Eskew