McCallie’s Tornado Term (or T-Term for short) has completed another successful session, with Upper School students spreading across the city in pursuit of unique educational opportunities.
From its inception, T-Term has been a recognition that learning happens in a variety of ways. The T-Term is an innovative education where students take a two-week break from the traditional classroom to participate in experiential learning activities, covering a range of opportunities, such as fly fishing, hiking, 3D printing, candy chemistry and breadmaking.
According to Chris Carpenter ’96, dean of Student Academics who oversaw the T-Term activities, "I am proud that we named this thing 'Tornado Term' five years ago. There were other ideas that were rather generic, but we settled on 'T-Term' with the goal of our version of a mini-mester being a uniquely McCallie experience. And that's what it has become."
In addition, seniors are given the opportunity to experience internships, many of which are sponsored by McCallie alumni. This year, internships were limited only by students’ imagination. Students were able to experience careers in medicine, law and journalism, just to name a few.
Mr. Carpenter also said of T-Term, "I am consistently amazed and impressed by the creativity and dedication of our faculty when it comes to Tornado Term. We talk often about how we do not teach subjects at McCallie; we teach boys at McCallie. T-Term is a great example of that principle in practice."