America as place, America as people, America as culture, America as an idea—in all its manifestations, America is complex, capacious, and changing. American Studies is for the student interested in exploring the complexities of what it is to be an American, by studying the experiences and values of the people of the United States as embodied in their history, literature, and culture, including art, music, politics, fashion, food, dance, religion, folklore, and media. By taking as our particular focus the place and people of Washington, D.C., this class seeks to empower students to confront with historical awareness the most pressing problems in American society. American Studies will meet for two class periods each day, allowing time for an in-depth study of American history, literature, and culture, as well as for many off-campus experiences and alternative assessments, such oral history, performance, debates, and other forms of rigorous, creative expression. Advanced American Studies students should be prepared to read critically, to write with clarity and nuance, and to form well-organized and creative extended arguments. This course fulfills both the U.S. History and English requirements, including the American Literature and writing requirement.

U.S. History is a survey course guided by four overarching themes: Identity, Democracy, Economic Expansion, and America in the World. Students will learn about key people, events and issues critical to an understanding of U.S. history. In the process, they will develop research, analytic, writing and presentation skills. Readings will include diverse voices and students will hone historical thinking skills as they engage with both primary and secondary sources, including Episcopal's own archives. The many historical and governmental resources in the Washington, D.C., area will serve as a parallel, experiential classroom.

Advanced U.S. History is a survey course designed to challenge students to develop a deep understanding of the American past. Beginning in the late fifteenth century, students will study critical turning points through the twenty-first century. Readings will include diverse voices and students will hone historical thinking skills as they engage with both primary and secondary sources, including Episcopal's own archives. The course will prepare students to take the AP exam and will utilize opportunities to learn outside of the classroom in the Washington, D.C., area.

This one-semester course explores the diversity of cultures in the Middle East region and considers the complex political, historical, religious, economic, cultural, and ethnic factors that play a part in Middle East issues. This course focuses on how the cultural traditions throughout the region have intersected with modern nationalism to create challenging situations — from the Balkans to Afghanistan. Time is spent considering the variety of perspectives in each country, looking closely at the history leading up to the Arab spring and current turmoil in the region. Students write analytical essays and film reflections, read Arab literature, engage in daily discussions, as well as complete a research project focused on the country they chose at the beginning of the course. In the Washington, D.C., area, students can visit the Smithsonian museums, various Embassies, and cultural institutions.

Out of the political ideologies conceived in the nineteenth century, none did more to shape the course of twentieth-century history than Communism. This course will examine the history of Communism, from early ideas about forming a more egalitarian and humane social order in the early 19th century to the collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. We will study Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' theory of Communism, Communist revolutions, and how Communist states structured their economies and governments around Marxism or variations of it. While we will pay close attention to the Soviet Union, we will also study Communism in the People's Republic of China, Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe, Vietnam, and Cambodia, and communist movements in Latin America and newly-formed African states from the 1960s to the 1980s. We will consider the reasons of governance. We will closely examine the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, dedicating close attention to "hot zones" where the United States actively intervened in regional conflicts to curb the spread of communism. Finally, this class will consider communism as a distinctive "civilization" with a particular set of cultural practices, habits, and traditions that came to shape the daily lives of people living under it.

This course uses a thematic and chronological approach to provide students the opportunity to study the modern history of Latin America. We begin with the struggle for power between the Spanish and their colonial subjects that led to Latin American independence and then dive into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by focusing on topics like state formation, economic exploitation, liberalism vs conservatism, the role of the Catholic church, slavery and emancipation and the struggle for indigenous rights and identity. With an area as large and diverse as Latin America, the course uses case studies of events and issues that illustrate broader themes in the region. Class discussions are guided in such a way that the history of the region will shed light on the present and therefore enable students to better understand current events and analyze potential problems that might arise in the future. Participation is critical for success and is assessed on a daily basis through short quizzes and graded discussion. There are no traditional tests in the class. Students write analytical essays after each unit and complete a final digital project focused on the country they chose at the beginning of the course. In the Washington, D.C., area, students can visit the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art, various Embassies, and cultural institutions.

This course is designed to provide students with an introductory understanding and vocabulary in order to grasp essential macroeconomics concepts and measurements. The course begins with an exploration of how macroeconomists and central bankers use gross domestic product, unemployment, and inflation to understand the health of economies. Students then learn about how governments use fiscal, monetary, and supply-side policy measures to stabilize economies. The course also analyzes the role of banking and finance in a capitalist free-market system and looks at how countries engage in trade with attention to foreign exchange markets. The course concludes with a unit on personal finance. This is a fast-paced course, requiring students to be independent learners with a strong grasp of basic arithmetic, mathematical functions, and graphing skills.

This course serves as an introduction to the general study of economics as well as an exploration of the behavior of firms (companies, corporations) and consumers. It begins by looking at how opportunity cost, trade-offs, and supply and demand act as threshold concepts in the study of economics. Students then learn about costs that firms face and how firms in different market structures behave. The course concludes by exploring the ways in which the capitalist free-market system sometimes fails to provide the socially optimal level of goods and services. This is a fast-paced course, requiring students to be independent learners with a strong grasp of basic arithmetic, mathematical functions, and graphing skills.

This seminar course examines four key turning-point eras that are important for understanding the historical "place" of Alexandria, VA. The course will start with a deep dive into the Early Republic era and the creation of the District of Columbia (1790-1820). Students will then study the antebellum and Civil War eras (1830-1865) in Virginia and D.C., Reconstruction and the early Jim Crow time period (1865-1900) and the era of World War II and the modern civil rights struggle (1940-1970). Throughout the course students will read compelling secondary sources and engage in seminar-style discussions. Students will also conduct original primary source research in online digital archives, and other local repositories. Assessments will consist of graded discussions, end of unit short papers drawing on primary sources and secondary literature, and a culminating digital project focused on a unique aspect of Alexandria history.

From The Holy Hill to Capitol Hill, this seminar covers some of the most important and interesting topics in the U.S. Government, with a heavy emphasis on current events and their relevance in the daily lives of Episcopal High School students. We take a civil, non-partisan journey into the meanings of Democracy, the Constitution, civil rights and liberties, public opinion and the media, campaign and elections, and the institution of the U.S. Government, focusing heavily on the decision-making process at the federal level. Students write position papers, prepare high-level briefings, craft their own piece of legislation, and prepare a Congressional campaign plan. The class takes advantage of Episcopal's proximity to the Nation's Capital to speak with diverse U.S. government officials firsthand. Ultimately this class prepares students to become more thoughtful and well-informed about some of the most important issues of the day. This course does not prepare students for the Government AP exam.

The buildings where we dwell shape us and often reflect who we are, both as individuals and as a society. They reflect our cultural values, and echo those of the past. This course will offer students the opportunity to examine the built environment, and how buildings and interior design reflect the values and technology of the time in which they were created. While considering their own philosophy on architecture, students will also come to better understand the architecture that exists in their own world and environment, taking advantage of the rich offerings in the Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia region. The approach to our study in this course will be to examine case studies of the iconic buildings from many historical eras in chronological order. Students will also be introduced to the basic skills of hand drafting, which they will employ, along with research, writing and presenting a final project and portfolio, which will be a culmination of smaller research/drafting assignments throughout the semester.