Project Week

Project Week is an integral part of the curriculum, and all students and faculty take part in a week of required co-curricular education set aside during the regular school year. It is a time when the Overlake community recognizes the fact that education does not take place only in the classroom. There are usually over 30 projects offering a wide variety of activities from experiencing Southwest Backpacking to Auto Engine Rebuild. Such courses provide an opportunity for growth, improved self-confidence, learning, and of course fun.

Project week is clearly different from our regular classroom curriculum. It is a community effort to explore different ways of learning. It is a celebration of the belief that useful educational experiences can take place outside of the classroom and that experiential education is a valuable endeavor.

Project week courses vary widely, but there is a school wide emphasis on:

• Experiential Education: This is learning by doing. Students are intensely involved in a focused activity for a week. The presence of an Overlake teacher, and often other experts, insures a quality, guided, learning experience.
• Challenge: Students challenge themselves in many ways. They are exposed to new activities and forced to deal with the apprehension of trying new things. Their physical and/or creative limits are stretched. Whatever the challenge may be, it is posed in such a way that growth is inevitable.
• Group Process: All Project Week courses are group experiences. Participants get to know students of other grades, teachers, and even their old friends in new ways. Sharing and cooperation are stressed, as students are asked to work closely with others and to share their thoughts with the group.
• Communication: The ability to express one’s thoughts is important in the learning process. Almost all projects require journal writing, group discussions or a final project.

View this year's online Project Catalog.

PFSA