Faculty in Focus

What elective course do you teach and how do students respond?

I’m a trained musician and music teacher who loves aviation. Recently, I completed my FAA Advanced Ground Instructor certification and am now a licensed pilot. During Winter Term, I taught “Aerospace: Journey of Flight,” a survey course from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University to
12 students.

Students have shown a strong interest in aviation and have responded with curiosity in exploring it further. Becoming a pilot is just one of many ways to get involved in the aviation community and industry. Some other avenues where students have shown specific interest include engineering, commerce, meteorology, military operations, air traffic control, medicine and law. In the fall, I will teach “Private Pilot Ground School,” another Embry Riddle syllabus, which will allow students to log FAA-certified ground training as well as prepare them for the FAA Private Pilot written exam.

Marc Pannullo
Aviation Teacher

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Science, imagination and creativity meet in the Girls Prep Division elective, “Common Sense.” We explore how our senses impact not only data collection but also emotions. There is no doubt that what we see, hear, taste, touch and smell is part of our experience. It is said that when one loses one of our senses, another becomes heightened. Students create new scents and flavors, and appreciate sound, vision and touch from new perspectives. They learn that audiologists, sommeliers, sensory evaluators, market research panelists, product developers, mixologists, masseuses, textile designers, ceramic makers and chefs use their senses to create. 

Students also learn the science behind the creations. This course bridges the gap between theory and practice by showing students how to simply use their five senses to master the art and science of observation.

Paulette Anderson-Spence
Math and Science Teacher, Girls Prep Division

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“Crazy in Love,” is a multidisciplinary course that asks students to critique the love stories, songs and other media they’ve grown up with — many of which normalize toxic, obsessive behaviors and expectations. Students examined how love is idealized across cultures and periods, analyzing texts from ancient Egyptian poetry to Romantic classics like Wuthering Heights. Then, we examined love on a scientific basis, learning how key brain regions and neurotransmitters, like dopamine, shape the experience of being in love. 

The course concluded with a reflective unit on agape — the Christian ideal of selfless love — and on Bell Hooks’ concept of living a “love ethic.” I hope this course makes space for students to (re)imagine love as not merely a feeling we fall helplessly into, but as a conscious, courageous act we make toward meaningful change in our world. 

Brian Marricco
Humanities Teacher, Girls Prep Division