The elective program in English offers a wide variety of courses for student selection. These offerings range from thematically organized courses, to special seminars on specific authors, with each course covering relevant short and long works that fit the course’s focus. The typical composition students write at this level continues to build on student’s mastery of the five-paragraph essay. Students are expected to write three such essays each semester. They also study topics such as outlining, introductions and conclusions, transitions, and parallel structure designed to develop specific skills necessary for the writing of effective essays.
The process of writing a screenplay has the potential to unlock unexpected conflicts, drives, and desires within one's own heart. It is a genre quite unlike any other in which aspects of one's own inner untapped personality can vividly come to life. This course is for those who love story and film and who are prepared to make a serious commitment to their own inner creative life. Each student will write an original monologue to develop a character’s voice before learning the fundamentals of visual storytelling through writing a silent script, an original 7-10 page script, outlining a feature length film and writing the first act of that film.