Interterm at Smith
Every year during winter break Smith offers interterm classes, also called j-term that usually begin the first week of January, and end the week before the spring semester starts. Its a great opportunity to take classes that are outside of your major, spend some extra time on campus, or just take something fun! The classes offered are usually 1-2 credits, but some more intensive classes are the regular 4 credits. For years that aren’t in the middle of a global pandemic all students are allowed to return to campus at any point during interterm regardless of whether they are taking a class or not.
For Interterm 2020 (last year) I took a week-long, 1 credit class on New England ecology and outdoor education called Interpreting New England Landscapes. I got to combine my interests of the outdoors and teaching, and the class culminated in our organizing a lesson plan and teaching the sixth graders from the Smith campus school what we had learned over the week. Pictured below is some of the stuff we collected for them (and us!) to look at under the microscope in the MacLeish Field Station classroom. This included leaves, needles, fungi, different types of scat, and bark from various trees.Â
My favorite part of this class was getting to traipse around the woods all day with 10 other smithies and our professors and call it a class. We got to learn so much about animal tracks, plant identification, connecting to nature more, and even saw a porcupine!Â
While it was a bit chilly (averaging about 15 degrees), we had so much fun learning about the woods around us, and how to effectively communicate all that we learned to others. Plus, once this class ended I had a week before my spring classes started so I could just hang out on campus with friends, and relax before the spring semester kicked in.
