Intersession courses travel across U.S.

Through “Study in the USA,” the Hopkins Intersession Program offers students opportunities to study in different parts of the country. The three courses offered this January are “Saint Petersburg, Florida: All Children’s Hospital,” “New York City, New York: Theatre Intensive” and “Los Angeles, California: The Entertainment Industry in Contemporary Hollywood.”

According to Jessica Madrigal, director of the Summer and Intersession Programs, the “Study in the USA” programs are still fairly new.

“This is going to be the fourth year next year, and we started with just one program in Film and Media Studies, [where we took] students to Sundance Film Festival,” Madrigal said.

Linda DeLibero, Director of Film and Media Studies, was one of the instructors for the course, titled “Sundance: Its Role in Contemporary Cinema,” in Intersession 2013.

“[The program was] a multi-pronged experience in critical film writing, reporting and observing the ins and outs of the festival organization,” DeLibero said on the Intersession Programs website.

This year, however, the Sundance Film Festival is not being held at the same time as Intersession.

According to the Intersession Programs website, pre-med juniors and seniors can go to the All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine (ACH JHM) for introductory clinical experiences in the pediatric field. The faculty members of the Office of Medical Education at ACH JHM will mentor the students and oversee their activities. The program takes place Jan. 19-23, but the applicants will need to arrive at the location the day before it begins.

For the Los Angeles program on the entertainment industry, students will partake in workshops and meet with producers, writers and directors. The students will also attend studio tours and watch local film archives and shows. The program will last from Jan. 5-9, and Hopkins recommends that students arrive one day before it starts.

For this program, DeLibero was responsible for finding the directors and writers in the entertainment industry.

“Linda DeLibero is in touch with parents and alumni, and through her network, she’s the one who’s creating the contacts for our students,” Madrigal said.

According to instructor Peg Denithorne, Sting will be in the cast of “The Last Ship” until mid-January, so students will be able to see him in his own musical.

All of the students will live in a house or a hotel together for the Florida and California programs. However, students in the New York program can commute if they live nearby.

For the “New York City, New York: Theatre Intensive” course, students will travel with faculty from the Theatre Arts and Studies Department to watch eight Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, including “Into the Woods” and “Cabaret.” Students will also get the chance to meet actors and directors. The week-long program will last from Jan. 6-11.

Freshman Joby Tsai plans to take the Intersession course in New York.

“[The program] is going to be such an amazing chance for me to watch all the Broadway shows that I have wanted. I live in New York, so it’s great that I get to spend time with my family while being able to learn and earn credit,” Tsai said.

Sara Lunden, a graduate of the class of 2014, participated in last year’s theatre intensive intersession course.

“I was a biology and Spanish [double] major, so I didn’t have a ton of free time in my schedule to take interesting classes outside my department, and this program was a chance to really immerse myself in a field I otherwise would not have had the chance to experience,” Lunden wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Also, I got to see a lot of really great theater at a much lower price, which was awesome.”

Lunden enjoyed having the opportunity to watch a wide variety of shows, including “Pippin,” “Wicked” and “The Glass Menagerie.”

“I would definitely recommend this program, from my perspective, there is no downside, it’s just a wonderful chance to experience theater in New York,” Lunden wrote. “The instructor was Peg Denithorne, and she was wonderful. She knows a ton about theater, and we would have small discussions before and after the shows which were always interesting and helped me to think about aspects of the production I would not have considered otherwise.

The goal of the “Study in the USA” programs is to apply lessons that students have learned at Hopkins to events occurring in different locations.

“[The programs] are things that we can’t provide here in Hopkins, but students need that exposure, especially if they’re thinking of careers in those fields... Above all, [the programs aim] to get the Hopkins network to help them in making those career decisions,” Madrigal said.

The registrations for the programs in “Study in the USA” have already closed. Students who wish to apply next year should check the Intersession Programs site early in the semester.

Unlike most Intersession courses, travel courses also have an additional fee.