Upper School Students Experience Education Through Cascades

“The most exciting part about Cascades is the discovery,” said Upper School Director Ingrid Gustavson. “I attended a field trip to Pike Place Market as part of the Shark Tank Cascade, and students were asked to look at how different businesses market their products. It was fun to witness the students see the world a little differently as they walked around, and the same goes for the Mindful Naturalist Cascade.”

Upper School students became one with nature in the Mindful Naturalist Cascade, which focused on collaboration, reflection, and cultivating connection through creativity, play, and mindfulness. Led by Upper School Health and Wellness Faculty Ali Stewart-Ito and Upper School English Faculty Bea Chang, this movement-centered course demonstrated the impact of nature and movement on the brain and on sustainable design thinking.

"Mindful Naturalist Cascade is all about reconnecting to nature in your own way, and finding peace, calm, and joy in nature and not seeking it in your phone or technology," said Melina H. '26. "It's also about finding those joys in other people."

After visiting the UW Center for Horticulture and spending the week outdoors, students collaborated to create "Playful Pathways" around campus. Together, they designed sustainable stations for their peers that combine mindfulness and creative play to foster well-being and connection.

Other hands-on Cascades, such as Building a Better Future: Solving Human Design Challenges Through Biomimicry, Stages of Wonder: Creating Theater for Young Audiences, and World Building in Cinema and Gaming, allowed students to hone their creativity and imagination. Artistically passionate students relished learning the ins and outs of media production, 3-D and sound design, drama, and filmmaking.

“In the Biomimicry Cascade, we learned how to look to the natural world to solve human problems and create more sustainable products and designs,” explained Upper School Science Faculty Nicole Iranon. “Together we explored various connections between form and function in nature, such as those between birds and flight, before students tackled a problem of their own choosing, engaging first-hand in the engineering design process.”

Back again for the second time this year, Creature Feature: Horror in the Real World, is a Cascade that fuses literary and scientific elements. Upper School Science Faculty Cecile Meister and Upper School English Faculty Molly Olguín combined their loves of horror and science to create this myth-busting Cascade.

“We’re studying monsters that appear in movies and pop culture that have been inspired by animals, such as cephalopods, arthropods, and amphibians,” said Cecile. “These creatures are often associated with fear, so this Cascade explores the biology and science behind why.”

Students in this course learned about the anatomy of several ‘monsters’ by getting up close and personal through various dissections. Over the span of two weeks, they visited the Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, Pacific Science Center, MOPOP, and the Burke Museum. These field trips gave the students the opportunity to view living and fossil specimens of the animal groups they were studying, and artifacts from classic horror movies.

Back in the classroom, students read multiple poems, articles, and short stories inspired by octopus, insects, frogs, snakes, bats, rats, and crows. In these texts, students debated questions such as: Do insects feel pain in the same way we do? Is it ethical to boil lobsters? And what makes us afraid of these creatures?

“We used media to look at real, biological examples of why these creatures feed into our anxieties and associations,” Molly said. “For example, after we discussed why we might be afraid of spiders, we learned that those fears are the same ones we have about femininity or liars.”

On Friday, January 23, students hosted an Exhibition of Learning throughout the Upper School campus to share their Cascade highlights with faculty and peers. Students enjoyed Rock Climbing and Land Management at Joshua Tree National Park, built connections and experience through inspiring internships, and immersed themselves in the languages and cultures of Kenya, Taiwan, Senegal, Guatemala, and New Zealand. Upper School students interested in pursuing a career in medicine also had the opportunity to earn a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification.

The Internship Program is one of the largest Cascades, with sixty-five participants this year. This community-centered course supports students in identifying passions, pushing outside their comfort zones, and learning real-life adult skills.

“I’m part of the Aegis Living Club at Bush,” shared Claire P. '27. “During my internship, there was a combination of physical and mental activities for the residents to do each day. There was a music therapist who worked with memory care residents because music has been proven to slow the effects of dementia. It was fun to connect with the residents and get to know them better.”

Students visited several community organizations, including Alaska Airlines, Seattle Derby Brats, Aerotech, Rainier Valley Food Bank, the UW Medical Center, and more.

“It’s important to have food banks because not everyone has access to food,” said Kieran C. '27. “At Rainier Valley Food Bank, they have to-go lunches for those who can’t prepare food in a kitchen.”

With over twenty Cascades to engage in, such as sculpture and book-making, podcasting, or filmmaking, Upper School students participated in activities that challenged them to nurture an open mind and blaze trails towards a future after high school.