Awakening the Dreamer, Pursuing the Dream

Awakening the Dreamer, Pursuing the Dream is designed to help students meet this challenge. To do so, we will focus on the individual's relation to self, society, leadership and the creative process. This program is intended for students who seek to explore and refine their core values in a context where they can act upon them with increasing awareness and integrity.

The faculty recognize that the social and psychological challenges of every era have required people to live their lives in the face of hardships and, often, in the midst of chaos. Therefore, the program will begin by focusing on how people in the past have worked to create a meaningful relationship between themselves and the world around them. We will trace music, dance, stories and images of many creative practices and spiritual traditions, from ancient to modern times. We will examine these in an attempt to discover which of them are relevant to our own lives. As students gain knowledge and skills in these areas, they will develop their own multifaceted approaches to prioritizing and pursuing their dreams.

Throughout the year, the program will make use of cognitive and experiential approaches to learning. Students will engage in their own practice of music, movement (such as dance or yoga), writing, drawing, or theater in order to cultivate the senses as well as the imagination. These practices will help us explore the deeper aspects of the human experience, which is the source of self-leadership, intentional living and change. Students will read mythology, literature and poetry while exploring ideas that continue to shape contemporary culture. We will also look to Indigenous cultures to deepen our appreciation of often-overlooked wisdom and values such as social justice and sustainability. We will seek to develop a broader understanding of contemporary culture as a stepping stone to thinking critically about how today's dreams can become tomorrow's reality.