October 5-9
Birding and Drawing – Chad Blair
If you love drawing, printmaking, and birds, this intersession is perfect for you. We will take two different birding trips, one to Sweetwater and one to Aqua Caliente, to observe and learn about the amazing birds of the Sonoran desert.
We will also spend time at The Drawing Studio learning drawing and printmaking techniques. Each person will end up with an Audubon-inspired piece of artwork This intersession will include two delicious lunches, instruction in birding by local ornithologists, and professional quality art instruction from The Drawing Studio.


FIRE! – Joe Boehm
Don’t play with fire, but carefully learn about it and safely explore it during this intersession event.
We’ll take a wide look at fire including primitive methods of starting it using a bow drill and striking sparks. Bring in your favorite song or poem about fire. There will an engineering contest to test the best denatured alcohol stove that students will design and build. How fast will your stove boil a pint of water? We will talk about how fires are fought, and we’ll take a vigorous hike to see how landscapes recover (or don’t) after forest fires.
Students will need parent permission to work with flammable materials with supervision.
Forensics: CSI Detectives – Debbie Barca
Enter the world of forensic science. Use logic and experiments, including blood splatter/ fingerprint analysis, teeth impressions, DNA analysis, and more to solve a mystery. Have fun doing “real-life” CSI work by investigating a staged crime scene. Explore exciting laboratory techniques that police and forensic scientists use to catch criminals. Learn tips to remember crucial details of an incident, and how to collect and preserve evidence. Use chemistry to uncover unseen evidence like blood stains. Put it all together to build a credible case.



Green Tucson! – Seth Smith
We will be looking into the interaction we humans have with our ecological surroundings, particularly in light of the fact that we stuck a city in the middle of it.
We will explore Urban Heat Island Effect and what it means for the surrounding area. We’ll talk with experts of things like water harvesting and responsible energy sources. As a culmination, our intersession will participate in the Tucson Clean and Beautiful program, which provides shades trees on the cheap to plant around houses and throughout the community. We will assess need in a few different areas, contact the appropriate resources, and prepare a site for planting a tree!
This site could be your house, if your parents would like it to be!

Light! Camera! Action! – Patrick Kelly
For this intersession we will investigate theater production and tech. Each day we will visit a theater, meet a theater technician and learn specifics of production in that theater. After returning to school we will develop production design ideas for City High/Paulo Freire Freedom School. We will focus on tech and design, but we may even get up on stage and play some theater games as well! By the end of Intersession each students will have a basic understanding of theater tech and design, the tools designers use, low end DIY to high end professional theater. Possible sites we will visit are: the Rialto Theater, the ATC Theater, Tucson Improv Comedy Club, Solar Culture and The Fox Theater.



Natural Building and Sustainable Living in the Sonoran Desert – Marcus Whitaker


