FITCHBURG HIGH SCHOOL TO HOST SUNDAY ENRICHMENT PROGRAM

MIT Student Organization to Bring 40 Teachers for Splash on Wheels

On January 27, 2008, the MIT Educational Studies Program (ESP) will join Fitchburg High School in hosting Splash on Wheels, an event open to all area high school and middle school students for the low fee of $10. The program will feature over 50 classes taught by MIT students, alumni, and community members in a wide variety of subject areas including math, science, liberal arts, and hobbies. Splash on Wheels is an extension of the popular Splash program, which runs every November on the MIT campus for a full weekend, and which featured over 400 classes and 1800 students this past year.

Splash on Wheels, which ran the previous two years at Hudson High School in Hudson, MA, is an effort to bring the unique learning opportunities that ESP provides to a broader community, especially those who would otherwise not attend Splash. According to Adam Seering (MIT ‘09), the current Splash on Wheels Director, “This program is important because it gives students a chance to see subjects they might normally not see, and it spurs interest in further study.” Splash on Wheels also aims to reach low-income and other underserved students, and this is aided by ESP’s policy of waiving the cost of Splash on Wheels for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch.

“The diversity of classes offered at Splash on Wheels is what makes it unique,” says David Farhi (MIT ‘10), who directed the program last year and is now one of the ESP Chairmen. This year’s course catalog includes such classes as “Wikipedia: Behind the Scenes,” “The Dark Universe,” (a class about dark matter and energy), “Prufrock and Other Poems,” “Multivariable Calculus,” and “How to Make Ice Cream.” The teachers of these classes come from many different MIT majors and include undergraduates, graduate students, alumni, and even local educators who have been involved in ESP for years but never attended MIT. Each class is reviewed by the program directors, but the overarching philosophy, which sets apart ESP from other enrichment programs, is “Teach Anything!”

Registration for Splash on Wheels is open online at esp.mit.edu until the end of January 23, and new registrations will be accepted at the door (the main lobby of Fitchburg High School) starting at 8:30 the morning of the program; the first class begins at 9:00 am.

About the MIT Educational Studies Program

The MIT Educational Studies Program (ESP) is an MIT student organization whose goal is to educate students in the greater Boston area with a variety of unique classes and programs. With a philosophy of “Learn Anything!”, ESP’s largest program is Splash, a weekend-long teaching and learning extravaganza that drew 1800 students in 2007. Other programs include HSSP (an 8-10 weekend program which has run since 1957) and SATPrep, a low-cost alternative to brand-name test preparation programs. All ESP programs are student-run and taught by members of the MIT community; the current chairs are David Farhi and Chris Kennedy, MIT class of 2010. More information can be found at esp.mit.edu.

If you would like more information, please contact the ESP Chairs, Chris Kennedy and David Farhi, at esp@mit.edu, or call (617) 253-4882 to reach the ESP Office. For more classes, please visit http://esp.mit.edu/learn/SplashOnWheels/2008_Winter/catalog