Graphic Design through the Medium of Merch

lenges in the real world, whether those are business challenges or social [or] policy challenges. [Students will learn] problem-solving; design thinking; market analysis; competitive analysis; nancial projections and analysis; organizational design strategy; and marketing.”

Entrepreneur-in- Residence Mike McGinley said the class will integrate aspects of both HW Venture and HW Works. “ is is going to be a class [where] you’re going to be really excited [that] you’ve learned something,” McGinley said. “We look at this as an upgrade in trying to consolidate some of the stu that we’re doing and integrate the other things that are already happening at Harvard-Westlake into a real class.”

Kian Shari ’24, who is interested in taking the course, said he appreciates the innovative element of entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship is so interesting because it allows you to think creatively without any rules,” Shari said. “Unlike typical school subjects, entrepreneurship rewards you for doing something that no one else has done before, which makes it so unique and cool.”

Shari said he is optimistic about the new course.

“I took the Venture: Catalyzing Change directed study last year and I really enjoyed it, so I’m sure this class will be just as fun,” Shari said. “[I am] excited to learn more about it and maybe t it into my senior schedule.”

In Search of Self: How Literature Shapes Us

By H annah Shahidi and Z oe Goor

e English Department is adding a new elective available to juniors and seniors called In Search of Self: How Literature Shapes Us for the 2023-2024 school year. English Teacher Jocelyn Medawar will be teaching the course. Students in the class will participate in group discussions surrounding various texts and will be assessed through creative prompts rather than essays characteristic of other English courses. is course aims to allow students to focus on literature as a path to personal, philosophical, spiritual and intellectual growth.

Medawar said she hopes the course helps students see reading in a more positive light.

“This course is for students who will want to focus on literature as a path to some kind of personal growth,” Medawar said. “ at’s ultimately what I’m getting at. I think that a lot of students would like a space to read literature, without the pressure of having to write an essay, without the pressure of reading quizzes. It’s about a di erent way to read.”

While the course will replace Medawar’s elective Shakespeare and Our World, Medawar said she intends for the classroom culture of the new course to have a similar feeling to that of her old elective. Carter Staggs ’23, who took Medawar’s current elective, said his class allowed him to get to know other students on a more personal level.

“People very much bring themselves to the class in a way that you don’t see in some more heavily academic intensive courses,” Staggs said. “Because of that, you get to really know the people in the class with you, and I would suppose that is why it feels so much like a family.”

English Department Head Laurence Weber said he hopes the course provides students with real-world analytical skills.

“Like all English classes, [I hope] that it nds students where they [are] at and gets them to feel more connected to each other and a world in which we [are] constantly interpreting the details,” Weber said.

By A lden Detmer

e Visual Arts Department introduced its new “Graphic Design through the Medium of Merch” Kutler Center course at the Academic Fair on March 7. Students will learn about the principles of design, layout and composition of artwork and apply it to the production of merchandise, according to the course description.

e course will occupy a block for a full year and will be open to all upper school students. e goal is for students to emerge with their own visual identity, products and skills to communicate through two-dimensional design.

Visual Arts Teacher Whitney Lasker, who will teach the course next year, said he was inspired by the power of clothing’s message.

“T-shirts, in particular, have the ability to convey humor, show support for a favorite band or sports team, or even make a statement about fashion,” Lasker said. “ is imagery can connect us with a passing stranger who also is a fellow fan or supporter. I have personally always been conscious of the message my clothing sends, and I have often wished I had the skills to turn my ideas into a shirt that I could wear and share with others. In creating my graphic design course, my goal is to empower students to turn their own ideas into physical objects that can be shared with the world.”

Lasker said graphic design’s ability to empower personal expression sets it apart from other visual arts classes.

“Graphic design is di erent than traditional forms of art, as it usually has a function in our day-to-day life,” Lasker said. “Not to say graphic design can’t be ne art or ne art doesn’t have a function. However, good graphic design combines artistic expression with problem solving and commu nication.

Other visual art classes may focus primarily on aesthetics and person al expres sion and techniques. is course will also touch on these elements but as they relate to e ectively communicating a message or solving a visual problem.”

Kai Do ’24 said she plans to take the course next year to further explore her design interests.

“I’ve always wanted to branch out more into fashion and the other side of graphic design, since I’ve always been into art and making layouts for magazines,” Do said. “At the Activities Fair, [Lasker] was talking about how there’s going to be many mediums we get to work with. Screen printing and seeing how other companies design their merch should be super cool.”

English IV: Apocalypse Now

By A lex Dinh

e English Department is creating a new English class for seniors called English IV: Apocalypse Now for the 2023-2024 school year. In past years, seniors could choose between four honors-level options and one option in the regular track. Now, seniors will have two options. e class will analyze texts, graphic novels, lms and series about di erent ways the world might end, including Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Zone One by Colson Whitehead and Severance by Ling Ma.

Students will read about life after climate disasters, civil wars, global pandemics, zombie invasions, nuclear attacks and supernatural interventions and respond with critical writing, personal essays, book reviews, blogs and fan ction.

English Teacher Darcy Buck said the primary reason for creating a new course was to create more choices for seniors who don’t want to take an honors English class.

“One of the things that we were all thinking about was choice,” Buck said. “Right now we have a lot of advanced o erings for students who really want to charge hard as seniors in English. But there was only one course that was o ered for students who wanted to spend their honors chips in other places.”

In addition to critical writing assignments, students will also be completing creative writing assignments, fan- ctions, book reviews and blog posts. Buck will be one of the teachers of the class and said they hope the class will o er a more enjoyable version of English to some students.

“Our hope is to have a course that’s really fun,” Buck said. “I think for a lot of students, by the time they get to senior year, they can feel a little salty about the fact that they have to take an English class. We want to create a course that focuses on the pleasures of reading and thinking about and talking about books that are wildly speculative but also quite relevant to our lives.”

Morgan Orwitz ’24 said she is con