J-Week

During Second Year, students have the benefit of taking what is called a January week class, a la J-Week. This is essentially a 1.5 credit hour class fit into 5 solid days, 8 hours a day instead of a quarter long at 1.5 hours a day. Some alumni have recommended quarter long courses that are better taught in one week. Others claim you should take a "fun" class for the week. I chose to take Leadership and Theater, which could likely be described as entertaining.

Over the last two days, we've done everything from improv to free writing to practicing and rehearsing scenes from plays. It's definitely been a bit different from the stereotypical quant classes for which business school is known. At times, it's very fun. Other times, it can be a bit frustrating - forgetting lines you've recited multiple times is nothing less than taxing. Supposedly we'll write, cast and direct our own manifestation of a play by Friday. I'm skeptical, but after putting on a performance yesterday given 3 hours and a number of limitations, maybe we're better than we think we are. By the end of this class, though we aren't directly linking it during class with leadership, we have to write a paper on what we learned from the class in the context of leadership. I've been taking notes and have noticed that the class is more relevant than one may think.

Here's a couple links talking about the class and its origins (please note I have watched neither of these videos in full as we were asked to wait until after class ends):