OPTIONAL SEMINARS (GS WEST)

"You’re heavily engaged in interesting seminars, the curriculum you came to study, and are forced to actually think & consider what you’re doing with your life instead of just being in the moment. You learn to live all over again." – Choral Music student, 2007

"The optional seminars, for me, brought about a wide array of subjects my public school would never address! Thank you so much Governor’s School to allowing me to contribute to and receive from other students many varying viewpoints!"– Natural Science student, 2006

"I would cause the world to spin slightly slower so that I could fit more seminars and more free time into the day."– Instrumental Music student, 2007

Optional seminars at GS-West are presented by faculty and TACs (teaching assistants/counselors), and are scheduled at either 4 pm or 7 pm. On many days, there are at least two offerings at each time slot. Seminars are very well-attended by students and faculty/TACs.

Below is a list of optional seminars recently presented at GS-West.

1. Strange Little Short Stories
2. Introduction to Films Seminar
3. Special Relativity Seminar
4. Advertising Sells More Than Stuff Seminar
5. Kung Fu Seminar Seminar
6. The Paradox of Southern Feminism Seminar
7. Introduction to Tai Chi Seminar
8. Poetry Workshop
9. How to be Politically Correct Film Screening
10. What in the World is Cuatro? Film Screening
11. Our Town: A Famous American Play in an Infamous Town Seminar
12. Reading Circles Discussion
13. Invisible Children
14. The Ethics of Assistance
15. Salem Ghost Tour
16. Seeing is Believing?
17. The Up Series
18. Throwing Like a Girl: Feminism and the Lived Body
19. The Art of Montage: Alfred Hitchcock Films
20. Citizen Science
21. Happy New Ears—Exploring New Music
22. Hip-hop History and Listening Party
23. I Don’t Get It: One Approach to Watching Dance
24. The Concept of Concept Albums: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
25. One is the Loneliest Number
26. The Shape of the Universe
27. Free Speech for Sale
28. I Robot: Exploring Ideas in Artificial Intelligence
29. Merchants of Cool
30. Hard Determinisms: The Limits of Free Will
31. Individuality, Conformity, and Society
32. The Absurdist Nightmare of Buster Keaton
33. Immigration and the European Union
34. Pipe Organ Demonstration
35. Faculty Poetry Reading
36. Understanding the Developing World
37. Mythos and Modernity in Japanese Cinema
38. The Evolution of Eminent Domain Policy Seminar Tour
39. Chew on This! Seminar
40. Barbie Karaoke and Friends: Experimental Electronic Music Film
41. Documenting the Invisible Seminar Seminar
42. The Fine Art of Solar Cooking
43. Elastic Scenes
44. Donald in Mathmagic Land Film/Discussion
45. Contemporary Community Art
46. Buying the War
47. The Exonerated
48. Planet Earth
49. College 102: Things You Should Know About Universities
50. Blood Done Sign My Name
51. Possible Worlds
52. What is Mime? What is Pantomime?
53. Wake Forest Visit
54. The New French Wave: Breathless, Forbidden Games
55. Self-Defense Class
56. A Day in the Life: College from a College Student’s Perspective
57. Illogical Minds, Logical Science
58. The Genetics of Skin Color
59. WWBD: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Meets Kant
60. Beyond Race: Bill and Janet’s Excellent Adventures
61. The Real Truth about College for Women
62. The Trouble with Brunnian Circles
63. The Cube
64. Our So-Called Lives
65. Shagging in the Carolinas
66. Peak Oil