What is a “mini-mester”? A mini -mester is a miniature semester where students are allowed to take a short and intensive course involving real-world experiences, local travel, and hands-on opportunities.
Students at Austin Catholic High School returned to school in January. They participated in a special two-week “mini-mester” where they explored various classes and participated in multiple field trips and service days. During the two weeks, students could choose two pass/fail classes they wanted to learn more about.
Classes offered for 2023:
- Museum Excursion
- Movie MashUp
- Caritas & Service
- Bell Choir
- Labs, Labs, Labs
- CPR & AED Certification
- Calligraphy
- Improv
- Digital Marketing
- Statistics of Sports
- Martial Arts
- Business Start-Up
- Sew Good
- Speed & Agility
- AP Class Sessions/Student Govt & NHS
During the two-week mini-mester, over 60 Austin Catholic High School students received their CPR/AED certification. Students also had the opportunity to sew their pajama pants and work with a partner to create a food truck. Field Trips included a day at the DIA, a trip to Saginaw Valley State University, a battleship, and a military museum. The service groups learned to knit and crochet scarves to donate, volunteered at Gleaners, Forgotten Harvest, and McWarm, and spent time at a local elementary school reading to the students and then painting the hallway. Speed and Agility students learned workouts that they could use to get in shape or prepare for upcoming tryouts. The martial arts class learned various techniques and capped off their mini-mester with a session of pads and foam equipment to practice striking. Improv spent the sessions working on their ability to think quickly and improve their speaking and improv skills. Calligraphy learned the basics of the art and created a gold foil piece with their name and watercolors. Finally, the bell choir students worked on making beautiful music, while the digital marketing class started Instagram content along with short videos of food trucks, improv, and calligraphy.
Overall the mini-mester allowed the students to explore various subjects while it offered the teachers an opportunity to teach something they enjoyed outside of academics. This was our first year of mini-semesters at Austin Catholic High School, and we are already looking forward to next year!