HEA401 Health Education 10
required minor | grade: 10 | one semester
Health Education is a semester-long course focused on decision-making and information gathering on the topics of mental and emotional health, drugs, and sexuality. We begin with a mindfulness-based stress reduction program, where together we explore and practice different forms of meditative practices to cultivate our ability to pay attention to the present moment with the hope of allowing us to make more thoughtful decisions. We also discuss stress and our stress reactions, how we experience and process the world through our body, thoughts, and emotions, and ways to cultivate gratitude in our everyday lives. Another main focus of the mental health unit is how to recognize when someone needs help and how to seek help for yourself or others. Sleep, addiction, depression, anxiety, and disordered eating are also addressed. We then examine substance abuse both at a societal level and also the individual consequences of choosing to use, including addiction. We explore drug-related issues through various lenses, including current research, statistics, media, societal norms, and direct and indirect pressure. Sexuality is presented in a holistic manner, and the topics include sexual identity, gender and society, reproductive health, and building and maintaining healthy relationships. All topics in the course are explored through information gathering, analyzing of media, personal reflection, and discussion.
HEA600 Life Issues
required minor | grade: 12 | yearlong course
The objective of the Life Issues course is to provide students with the information and tools they need to navigate their senior year and the transition into the next phase of their life, including college. The course is coordinated with Advisory meetings once a cycle all year. The course focuses on a list of topics that the students help generate, including personal finance, mental health and mood disorders, happiness, stress, basic car maintenance, resume writing and business communications, personal safety, healthy romantic relationships, maintaining a strong relationship with parents and family, buying and preparing food, physical intimacy, sexual consent, bystander intervention, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, sexual identity, social media, and alcohol and drug use. We recognize that many parents and caregivers are also reflecting on how to prepare students for their lives after GFS and are happy to offer resources to support these conversations.
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HEA500 Queer Culture: Past, Present, and Future
minor elective | grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
In Queer Culture: Past, Present, and Future, students will examine the scope of queer culture from early societies to present day with an eye towards our ever-expanding future. Students will begin by delving into queer theory, its origins, where it stands at current, and where it is headed. We will then survey our LGBTQIA ancestors from around the world, settling into a more in-depth exploration of the Americas. The study of our ancestors will segue into a look at queer art & culture, queer surrealism, and finally queer futurity. Guest teachers will join us over the course of the year to share about areas of expertise as they relate to queer culture. Over the course of the year, students will keep a journal/research log and complete short response pieces to the texts we read. The class will culminate with a research project.
Possible texts:
• A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski
• Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity by Jose Esteban Munoz
•A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory by Nikki Sullivan
• Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker & Julia Scheele
• Gender Outlaws, The Next Generation by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman
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HEA520 Public Health and Modern Society
minor elective | grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
In Public Health, students will examine the scope of public health and how it works in our society, from conceptual theories to real-life applications. Students will begin by becoming acquainted with the history of modern-day public health and epidemiology. Once that foundation has been built, we will examine public health in today’s world; paying specific mind to disparities and differences that exist in groups based on race, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, sex, ability, etc. A group of diverse guest lecturers, who are experts in their field will join us over the course of the year. These lectures will coincide with heritage, awareness, and appreciation months, but will also be flexible to include developing situations happening in the world. Over the course of the year, students will formulate a research question based on a sector of public health they are interested in. This will culminate with a research proposal presentation for faculty and staff, as well as public health professionals.
Possible texts:
• Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentations on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriett A. Washington
• Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the 21st Century by Alice Wong
• The Health Gap by Michael Marmot
• Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activist on Health by Adrian Shanker
• Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care by Dayna Bowen Matthew
• Black & Blue: The Origins and Consequences of Medical Racism by John Hoberman
• Race, Ethnicity, and Health. A Public Health Reader by Thomas A. Levist
