Thunderous applause and frantic whispers to friends resounded off the walls of the theater as plans to implement Jan Plan into the school’s curriculum were announced at the opening assembly.
From dissecting Beyonce’s Lemonade album to biking six miles around Houston, Jan Plan features unconventional activities influenced by faculty interests. Last Thursday, students ranked their top choices for both full- and half-day classes. Students will take these classes from Jan. 5-9, a bridge period between the end of winter break and the start of the spring semester.
The idea for Jan Plan first surfaced in 2018 and was set to debut in 2020. But when the pandemic hit, Jan Plan was put on pause. Next semester, the program is back for good: the faculty are ready to share their passions—though they are not yet allowed to disclose which classes they will personally teach.
“I’m very excited because this is going to be a course on something that is very close to me—something that is very special,” Upper School Spanish teacher Angela Prendes said. “And I’m also working with two wonderful colleagues. So I think it’s just going to be amazing.”
Upper School math department chair Bethany Goldman is excited to see how Jan Plan will change the mindsets of her students.
“I hope the students enjoy [my class]. I hope they have a better sense of the possibilities for engaging in this activity in their own life even beyond our Jan Plan course,” Goldman said. “I hope they start to see some possibilities in Houston and in their hometown that they didn’t see previously.”
For students, Jan Plan also provides an opportunity to get to know the School’s community better by focusing on learning outside of their typical core classes.
“When it’s the middle of the year, and you’re really stressed, you associate school with negative emotions,” senior Reese Williams said. “Jan Plan will make school a more positive place. I’m glad that I get to do it, even if it’s just for one year.”
When junior Emily Matthews-Ederington was taking a look over the course catalog, she made sure to choose her courses wisely. Matthews-Ederington ranked the Film Studies class as her first choice, a class in which students will have the opportunity to critique films from several genres.
“The school year is just so busy that there’s not much time to do learning outside of school or develop other interests. So the fact that there’s going to be built-in time to do that is exciting,” Matthews-Ederington said.
While some students have ranked their classes by coordinating with friends to hopefully end up in the same ones together, Matthews-Ederington hopes to discover a new interest that she can look into in the future.
“I don’t want [Jan Plan] to be exactly like a class. Some of the history ones seemed very in-depth for a week and overwhelmed me a little,” Matthew-Ederington said.
Freshman Noa Hayon is excited to broaden her horizons and meet new teachers through Jan Plan, especially as it is one of the many new privileges she gets to enjoy as a new high school student.
“Jan Plan is such a new thing for me to be around, especially because middle school was so much more structured,” Hayon said. “There are just so many choices, and they’re all classes I didn’t even know my teachers knew how to lead.”
Overall, Jan Plan has sparked the creativity of students and teachers, providing them with a week of amusement and discovery.
“It’s going to be so much fun because it’s something completely different from what we do during our normal academic day,” Prendes said. “The students will leave having done something so meaningful and something so different from what they’re used to, and that has value.”
