EA Utilizes Their Greatest Asset During J-Term
The Episcopal Academy is known for its rigorous academics and strong athletic and arts programs, but one of EA’s strongest features may be its incredible alumni strength and connections. This feature is highlighted during EA’s unique feature: J-Term.
The Financial Literacy J-Term run by Mr. Hess and Mr. Yang, covers the broad spectrum of finance from personal budgeting all the way to investment banking. Mr. Hess and Mr. Yang are able to bring the course to life by exposing the students to workers and executives in the financial world through Episcopal’s alumni and network strengths. Students are able to meet people like the CEO of Turner Investments, an EA parent whose kids have already graduated and the person who the Turner Upper School is named after. Students are also able to travel to New York where they can meet EA alumni who currently work for Goldman Sachs. Parth Sachar '19 was inspired by meeting the Episcopal Alumni at Goldman Sachs stating, “All of us needed that panel Q & A because it was just so wonderful to see the successful graduates from EA. I feel that EA has such great respect and that is credited to the strong alumni.”
The Journalism J-Term, run by Mr. Willis and Mr. Schuch, also utilizes EA’s alumni and network strength by exposing students to people working in the media industry. Mr. Schuh was able to bring Michael Flaherty, a reporter for Reuters, and he was able to explain the intense lifestyle of a reporter at Reuters. David Huang ‘18 loved his presentation saying, “ I don’t think anyone knew how Reuters works with the banks, and it was an eye-opening experience for me.” Huang also includes how this exposure makes the topic of journalism more interesting as students and teachers are able to experience what real world journalism feels like.
Mr. Willis and Mr. Schuh were also able to connect with John Morris ‘88 who is the director of digital operations at ABC. Morris captures the students’ attentions as he talks about the flaws and importance of media coverage in the previous election. Students were amazed to hear first-hand about the media, which played such a vital role in the election. Aarushi Singh ‘20 explains, “Having Mr. Morris come to us was really beneficial to our J-Term as we were able to learn a lot more about journalism. I think that having him come and tell us about media coverage in the last election changed my perspective on both the two candidates and how the political scene works in general.” Mr. Willis is a big fan of EA’s Alumni connections saying that by not using this network, students are not using all that EA has to offer. He includes, “Bringing in experts in the field is exceptionally beneficial to the students… when you have experts that metaphorically or symbolically sat in the same chairs as the students it is that much more meaningful.”
Mrs. Brinkhoff-Rau covers and captures the different activities and speakers that come around during J-Term. She comments on EA’s alumni strength, specifically the mock trial class that went to Washington D.C and had an extremely rare experience. Through an EA alumni connection, they were able to meet the clerk to a supreme court justice. Mrs. Brinkhoff-Rau concludes that, “Episcopal is so fortunate to have tremendous resources and an added plus of those resources are the incredible alumni that Episcopal has and it's just a really neat experience for the students in J-Term to hear from Episcopal alumni about what they’re doing in their careers and their thoughts and suggestions on various topics.”
J-Term is an exceptionally unique experience in and of itself, but by using Episcopal’s incredible alumni and network strength in becomes some of the most memorable two weeks of a student’s life. The two week experience allows students to take a break from their classes and have exposure to topics of their interests.