Stimulus Day at the High School 2023

On Wednesday, March 1, tenth grade students enrolled in A.P. Seminar took part in a Stimulus Day at the high school library. The all-day event featured guest instructors who helped the students prepare for their upcoming A.P. exam on May 4. 

A.P. Seminar is a two-year course that, according to College Board, “encourages students to demonstrate critical thinking, collaboration, and academic research skills on topics of the students' choosing.” 

The students have already completed Performance Task 1, a team presentation and individual review of literature paper. For the second performance task for A.P. Seminar, College Board provides a collection of stimulus materials ranging from photography to scholarly studies to memoir. 

The goal of Stimulus Day was for the students to not only gain a deeper understanding of each text but to explore deeper connections between texts and how they “converse” with each other. The deep discussion uncovered a myriad of topics, issues, and controversies that sparked potential research focus for students. The end result will be a 2000-word scholarly level argument paper and a six-minute presentation with oral defense.

The guest speakers throughout the day were high school teachers. Jessica Cardullo helped the students with meditation while Eileen Walsh-Ahrens taught yoga. Mike Pace and Lynn Perlin explored different social studies texts with the students and Sonja Anderson helped them to understand a science text. 

Teachers Tracey Trentowski and Jennifer Sohl said that students really rose to the occasion. They stretched their mind muscles and engaged with each other in meaningful ways.