The seminar redesign committee, a new student group established to advise the administration as they restructure the sophomore, junior and senior seminar classes, held its first meeting Jan. 23. Psychology Teacher and Head of Peer Support Tina McGraw said she worked with the Upper School Dean Team to select four students from each grade of the committee. She said each member is committed to helping their fellow students and collaborating with students and faculty to make a change.

Ofek Levy ’23 said that he views the seminar courses as essential for learning about topics that extend beyond the classroom.

“There are many things like sex, alcohol and drug education, learning about social skills and more difficult topics like human sex trafficking awareness, or suicide awareness, that don’t really have a class in themselves to talk about already, but are very important to talk about in our modern-day society,” Levy said.

McGraw said the administration opted to make changes to the seminars to incorporate more social and emotional support for students, and to ensure their content reflected students’ particular needs.

“We want [students] to help us edit what topics are most salient for them in their daily lives,” McGraw said. “Sometimes, as adults, we have our ideas, but we always want to get student input to make sure that those ideas match what [students] want. We have to work within the confines of what’s available in the schedule and what’s available in terms of faculty and staff who are going to be running those classes, but we’re extremely open to new ideas, fresh ideas [and] even new ways to deliver content.”

Upper School Dean Nia Kilgore said students are able to offer a valuable perspective on the seminars.

“The deans don’t experience classrooms the way academic teachers do because we do not see our cohorts of students as often,” Kilgore said. “There is no one more uniquely qualified to give us the feedback and insight we need to improve the Sophomore Seminar Program than the students who are living it now.”

McGraw said the student input will help the administration shape the curriculum around students’ preferences.

“[The seminars] really create an opportunity for us to talk about those things in front of an entire school,” Levy said. “This was a really great way of creating improved, thoughtful, well-rounded human beings.”

“We wanted to really boost what was offered in junior and senior year particularly,” McGraw said. “For the sophomore curriculum, we wanted to just get more input from students. We’re sticking to some of the same topics we’ve always covered, but really, we’re interested in how you guys engage best and what would be the most important thing that you would want to learn from a class like this.”

Levy said he decided to apply for the committee because he saw its potential leave a positive impact on the school community.

“[The seminars] really create an opportunity for us to talk about those things in front of an entire school,” Levy said. “This was a really great way of creating improved, thoughtful, well-rounded human beings.”