After a fun-filled Christmas break, many students dread the week when they must finally return to school. But here at STA, the joy of break extends a little longer. The time of Interim falls the week after winter break ends; St. Teresa’s Director of Innovation Kelly Finn shares what the program is and how it started.
“Interim week was launched in 2018 with the intention for giving teachers (and now students) opportunities to tap into a personal passion and then develop a course that they facilitate for the students at St Teresa’s,” Finn said. “The goal is to take learning outside the four walls of the traditional classroom.”
In recent years, the program has adapted to include courses that are co-led by students.
“There have been different iterations of [student-led interims], and it kind of evolved organically in the early stages of the program,” Finn said. “Sometimes, teachers would just informally ask students who were interested, who helped co-lead either particular lessons or even sometimes the whole class. So when I took over the management of [the program] about three or four years ago, one of my primary goals was to give students those leadership opportunities.
Although student-led interims might not seem like they have a significant impact on the program, Finn reflects on their importance and effects.
“The effect of interim is just so cool, like when I watch students first conceptualize an idea and tap into something that they care about,” Finn said. “If we’re wanting to share something that we feel passionate about, we’re so much more energized and motivated. Watching a student think about how [they] can share that with others is a really transformational and powerful process. Developing an interim class hits on so many of the competencies that we encourage through our portrait of a graduate, and I think it’s something that can distinguish an STA student from a competitive student in all kinds of college applications. Those qualities and characteristics that you’re developing can help you evolve and grow to be successful in so many situations.”
Part of the reason student-led interims became a reality was because of STA’s commitment students and their ideas.
“I think we rarely say ‘no’ to a student’s idea,” Finn said. We want students to be successful, so we try to put in support mechanisms to help create realities. I could think of the immigration walk that happened recently or the anti-gun violence rally. Those were student ideas, and our administration didn’t step up and say, ‘No, you can’t do that.’ They said, ‘how do we give you a framework to be successful? And how do we give you the adult support that you need, but also still give you autonomy to develop the idea?’ [The creative process] is coming from your teenage perspective, and it’s not coming from our adult perspective. It’s got to be that balance and that partnership.”
While interim week approaches, the community continues to encourage student leadership, like for MJ Van Dyke, who’s interview follows this story.
