U School

From the Jubilee Auditorium it is a quick, short swooping flight to the University of Alberta north campus. Evolving on the edge of the North Saskatchewan River since its founding in 1908, it covers 230 acres or 930,777 square metres (almost but not quite bringing meaning to a million). With over 37,000 undergraduates it would have ranked 9^th as a population centre in Alberta. The program is under the aegis (I owe my personal love of Greek mythology to my most memorable U of A undergrad professor, Dr. Robert Buck, who demonstrated every class to me the essential place of sharing passion in learning) of the Chancellor and Senate of the University of Alberta, and makes the most of its volunteer experts to open the window of endless possibility in inquiry to U School students.

I caught up to Michaela Mann, U School program lead, working at her apartment near campus. COVID-19 means U of A classes are being delivered remotely and only essential work is being done on campus.  Most U of A research is continuing remotely, but essential research is being conducted on campus related to COVID-19 and clinical care activities.

Michaela’s path to Inquiring Minds started when she was working for U of A Students Union in professional development and program design for students on campus. The previous U School program lead, Melania Woloszyn, reached out looking to fulfil a U School teacher’s big idea. Mel asked Michaela to make a presentation to a U School class on leadership. There was also an “off the wall” connection, which literally came while she was climbing a wall. Michaela got to know a facilitator of class experiences at U School while on the climbing wall at the Wilson Climbing Centre and as a result in the fall of 2019 applied for the position of Program Lead.

Her first thought when asked about an overlooked aspect of U School concerns the walking. “It is a big site, basically a small city,” she told me, “and we walk everywhere.”  Walking across campus provides a visual representation of the breadth of the university. We agreed that walking is an essential and wonderful learning activity built into every Inquiring Minds site.

Michaela relishes the constant opportunities U School provides for her own learning. One of the first presentations she saw connected the spectrum and the thermo-dynamic (hot and cold) science of lasers. After predicting the effects of shining a green laser at green balloon and then a red balloon (absorbed and reflective energy) and watching one explode, she now has an incredible love of all things laser. She routinely sees that happen to U School students; exposure to something mind blowing plants seeds of interest deep in a brain.

The Inquiring Minds website describes U School this way:

U School is designed to give students the opportunity to interact with University of Alberta staff, students, professors and community members while learning about a wide variety of teacher-directed topics.  Students are introduced to the U of A and our sessions take place primarily on North Campus.  Please note U School only accepts applicants from socially vulnerable metro areas and provides rural opportunities to those outside of metro areas.

Take a look at the U School webpage. https://www.ualberta.ca/chancellor-and-senate/u-school/index.html

Do you want to know more? Contact Michaela at uschool@ualberta.ca

You can start your application process at the Inquiring Minds website. https://ourinquiringminds.wordpress.com/application/