Fitness instructor Christina Hoff (from left), Sope Adeleye ’20, and visiting scholar Qingqing He ’18 participate in American Heart Association Heart Saver CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator) training for adults, children, and infants. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

Campus & Community

At Wintersession, fresh ways for students to explore

Creative and practical classes offer broad range of skill-building techniques

Rachael Dane

Harvard Correspondent

January 24, 2018 3 min read

Wintersession 2018 gave Harvard students some much-welcomed time to explore new fields and experiences.

The optional Wintersession program, which spanned Jan. 12‒22, offered both creative and practical classes. Many students returned to campus to take part in student- or faculty-led activities that included scores of arts intensives, health and wellness seminars, sports and recreation activities, and career-related programming.

From training in life-saving to exploring gemology to relaxing at an ice-skating party, students indulged in opportunities they otherwise may not have been able to pursue.

This year’s programming included a new focus on encouraging students to use the break to grow personally and academically as they move through their College careers and become citizens of the world.

The sessions also included professional-development opportunities, from advice on writing resumes to interviewing skills. A few sessions connected students with alumni, including prominent television producers and industry professionals.

Christina Hoff (from left) instructs Beverly Ge ’20 and Peter Chang ’18 in CPR and AED at the Malkin Athletic Center. Sope Adeleye ’20 (left) and Skylah Reis ’21 practice their CPR techniques.
Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

During Wintersession, students learn to make and use the technology that revolutionized human life. Ian Webb ’20, a mechanical engineering concentrator from Eliot House, throws an atlatl during an outdoor demonstration.

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

The atlatl, or spear-thrower, is a 10,000-year-old tool developed independently across the globe by cultures from the Arctic to New Zealand. Benjamin Ho ’21 adds feathers to his atlatl. Erin Kim ’19, a molecular and cellular biology concentrator from Currier House, checks the straightness of her atlatl.
Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Ian Webb ’20 (from left), Nancy Khalil (a recent Ph.D. graduate), and Diana Gerberich ’18 make their own atlatls during the workshop in the Peabody Museum.

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

During “Wintersession Gems and Jewelry” at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Bronte Lim ’18 (left) and Forrest Flesher ’21 (right) explore gemology with Raquel Alonso-Perez (yellow shirt), curator of the Mineralogical and Geological Museum at Harvard.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Bronte Lim ’18 examines a sample gem. Forrest Flesher ’21 (from left) explores gemology with Raquel Alonso-Perez, Bronte Lim ’18, and Caleb Shelburne ’18 during “Wintersession Gems and Jewelry.”
Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Students participate in a Wintersession mural workshop led by Harlem-based muralist Paul Deo at Harvard Ed Portal. Emily Koch ’20 (from left), Julia Sweeney ’18, Deo, and Alice C. Hu ’18 are pictured at work.

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer