Chances are, if you’re here you already think GA students are pretty lucky. The campus, sure. The community, of course. But can we talk about those courses? After years of hearing curriculum-night proclamations of Hey, I wish I could take this class!, US English teacher Kent Motland decided to answer the call. GA is pleased to offer Gator U, custom courses created specifically for the non-student members of our community. Register today!
What?
Three multi-week offerings taught on campus by GA Upper School faculty
When?
- Tuesday, January 31, 7:00 PM
- Courses run three & four weeks
Who?
- Current parents
- Past parents
- Alumnae
Culinary Science
Teacher: Josh Pepe
Four weeks: 1/31, 2/7, 2/13, 2/21 (makeup date: 2/28)
Tuition: $480
Good science is the backbone of great food. However, most of us rarely think about science when we’re preparing a meal. Life is busy and oftentimes we need to get food on the table in a hurry. In this four-week course, we’ll slow it down a bit and take a deep dive into the science of good cooking. Want to learn how to make the fluffiest pancakes, the ultimate steak or a plant-based burger that rivals the real thing from Shake Shack? Using GA’s brand-new culinary lab, we’ll tackle different foods each week using a variety of techniques designed to enhance the texture and flavor of food. With the knowledge gained from this course, you are guaranteed to expand your range in the kitchen and create food that your entire family will enjoy.
Requirements: No homework will be given and no prior cooking experience or science background is necessary.
Southern Odyssey: Reading Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying
Teachers: Mark Feiner & Kate Sands
Four weeks: 1/31, 2/7, 2/13, 2/21 (makeup date: 2/28)
Tuition: $480
As American “classics” go, none is stranger than William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. With 15 different narrators, Faulkner tells the story of the Bundren family’s quest to bury Addie, their wife and mother, many miles from their Mississippi home. Each character’s perspective on the journey is unique, and Faulkner’s project is as much about exploring the way characters think as it is about telling the story of this family’s dark (and sometimes darkly comic) journey.
Reading Faulkner can be so much fun, but few of us are inclined to tackle his work on our own. In this class, we’ll travel together through Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County, we’ll make sense of the Bundrens’ thoughts and relationships, and we’ll consider what relevance their very different existence has to GA and Brunswick students.
Requirements: Books will be distributed in our first meeting, so no need to buy them in advance or to do any reading ahead of time.
More than the Dream
Teacher: Bobby Walker, Jr.
Three weeks: 1/31, 2/7, 2/13 (makeup date: 2/21)
Tuition: $360
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech has been widely regarded as one of the most important and moving speeches given in American History. His eloquent words and his vision for an America that lives up to its creed that all men are created equal gave hope to an America that was reeling from racial strife and dichotomy. The words he delivered on August 28, 1963 are quoted over and over again, and many people feel that his dream spoke to the man that he was and his only vision for his country. This course will start with a close examination of the entire speech MLK gave that summer day in our nation’s capital. From there, the next two sessions will be devoted to looking at other speeches/sermons King delivered that reveal the complexity of his character and how important of a figure he was in helping a country define what it could be in a time of multiple social movements and great injustices.
We will watch video clips from the Eyes on the Prize documentary series as well as reading (and sometimes hearing) King’s own words. Each meeting will analyze King’s words and all of us will attempt to add more understanding to the man who is the only non-US president with a federal holiday named in his honor.
Requirements: Complete the readings and watching the video clips before each class in order to participate actively in the discussions.