Olympic Studies is a six-week independent study period at Mountain Shadows, a small private, progressive integrated day school in Dublin that focuses more on the process of learning than the final product.

“We are very outdoorsy, and we do what we can to make learning fun,” said Temple Brighton, head of the school.

At the beginning of the Olympic Studies process, each student in the school chooses a topic they would like to study, and teachers help them find a mentor who will help and teach them while they study. Students meet with their mentors as soon as possible to figure out the details of what they want to do, how to get their idea for what the study will look like, etc. Later, this turns into the rough and final drafts of their plan, project and goal proposals. 

Research is also a part of each child’s study. The youngest students have really basic research to do and make 10 index cards with questions and answers. As you progress through the school, you learn how to write a formal paper with research cards from sources, an outline, a rough draft, final draft and bibliography.

Each student gets an Olympic Studies journal at the very beginning of the process. This is used for journal writing every day, temporarily replacing the assignment books and journals that are part of the weekly homework, with a calendar for scheduling appointments and deadlines. The cover is decorated and eventually laminated. 

The poster is the only project you never take home and for that reason, making it takes up most of the student’s day. There are six parts of the poster: four corners, central focus, captions, borders, the medallion and and the poster paper itself. Everything except the poster paper and borders are mounted on black paper. All parts are glued onto the poster. 

All students do at least one personal project to display on their table, though what the project is varies from person to person.

A lot has changed about Olympic Studies over the years, but a few things have stayed the same: creativity, dedication and the hard work put into each student’s project every year. 

Fiona Heffron is a seventh-grader at Mountain Shadows School. She studied writing for Olympic Studies this year.