As course sign-ups for next year approach, current upperclassmen have shared their favorite classes they took that are being offered next year. Enjoy! 

English

Immigrant Legacies

“Interesting literature and there was a fun interview project (podcast style final) and poetry section, instead of just traditional essay writing.” – Allegra Kunney ‘23

Voices of Incarceration 

“Highly recommended, it was my favorite class I’ve ever taken at Urban. I chose my college major because of that class.” – Anna Thornton ‘23

“This was by far my favorite class at Urban. I appreciated the multidisciplinary curriculum, the formerly and currently incarcerated people we had the opportunity to speak to, the pen pal opportunity with someone currently incarcerated (I became very connected with my pen pal buddy), and all the podcasts/discussions we had as a class on social justice and the criminal justice system. If you are someone who possibly has stereotypes about prison and crime, is interested in pursuing legal studies, or just wants to learn more about incarceration, this class is amazing for all this and more.” – Yosi Colin ‘23

Creative Nonfiction (UAS)

“You are introduced to a completely new form of writing with a lot of play on words in a really creative way. We learned about storytelling in a way that I had never done before. You work on a wide medium of projects and they’re all very creative.” – Tristan Arnovick ‘23

British Literature (UAS)

“The books were really interesting and it was not what I had expected.  I initially thought of Harry Potter, but it was mainly queer British literature.” – Fiona Clark ‘23

Last year’s Urban Legend course sign-up recommendations containing Latin American Literature (UAS), The Naturalist as a Writer and Examining the Good Life. 

History

Modern Middle East (UAS)

“It’s information you should know before college and moving away. It’s such a controversial topic, and you need to know what you’re talking about. This was one of the most interesting classes I’ve taken at Urban.” – Carly Goldblatt ‘23 

“When you learn about the U.S. or places the U.S. has colonized, you don’t see the human outcome or both sides. In this class you get to learn more about both sides, and not in a way where the U.S. wrote both sides. [It’s] very cool to learn about culture and history, and you explore culture more than you would in many other classes.” – Mia Smith ‘23 

America Transformed (UAS)

“I liked how this class was able to recap a lot of different aspects of American history. Some history classes are geared to a certain topic or perspective but this class was very open-ended. It allowed me to make my own conclusions.” – Max Katz ‘23

“America Transformed is the 60 years that we skip between Making and Remaking. Learning about the economy during the 1880’s and how it is being replicated now with wealth disparity was really interesting. In general it just helped me fill the gaps between Making and Remaking so now I have a greater knowledge.” – Camryn Saydah ‘23 

Economics 

“The projects, discussions, and analyses we get to do in this course are very fascinating and help you understand more of our country’s economy, as well as the stock market. I learned a lot of valuable lessons including investing in stock markets (when is it a good time to invest and how), how to manage my money, the history of our country’s economy and what led to certain disasters, how to analyze company stock markets, and so on.” – Yosi Colin ‘23 

Constitutional Law (UAS)

“I really loved getting to learn how to analyze court cases and about our laws and our rights as citizens. This class really challenges your thinking and challenges how and why you think and how you can prove a certain case. Our mock-trial was super fun, as was our final IRAC paper on a court case.” – Yosi Colin ‘23 

Women’s United States History (UAS)

“Charisse is a great teacher. She is so smart and she makes you analyze text in a deep-layered way to try to understand why the author was presenting this perspective. I also loved the final project which is where you get to create a 3 week course on a topic of your choice. It was a great way to do a final project of your choice where you could use Charisse’s guide of how she taught the class. That class pushed me a lot and it made me a better student.” – Camryn Saydah ‘23

Science

Infectious Disease (UAS)

“If you aren’t gonna study science in college, but you like earth science, this is an opportunity to go deep into something complicated. Also there’s a fair amount of how it connects to the world today.” 

– Mia Smith ‘23

Cal Studies  

“Geoff and Jenn are reimagining the class and bringing in a lot of artistic components. I love getting out into the city and nature. Learning about how we get our water and how it all works. You do a really deep dive into the class and you get to bond with the kids. [On a field trip,] the bus broke down. But during that, Geoff taught us about rocks we were seeing.” – Camryn Saydah ‘23 

Physical Resources (UAS)

“Physical resources is the class to take not just if you care about global warming, but if you want to learn what we can actually do about it. You learn about different types of ethical climate theory, clean energy, and water systems, and it culminates in an exploration into how climate change disproportionately affects people in poverty and communities of color. It’s both scientifically and socially relevant.” – Lily Halbert-Alexander ‘24

Applied Physics: Motions and Machines 

“It is a really engaging and enjoyable class. You always have something to do and you get to spend a lot of time outside.” – Will Rubin ‘24 

Physics Mechanics (UAS) 

“Everything we learned in mechanics felt relevant because of the way it applied to real world concepts. The class was a good balance between hands-on learning and more conceptual puzzles—the best intro to Urban physics.” Dylan Marchiel ‘24

Math

Statistics and Probability

“Stats has been really interesting so far and a very chill environment compared to the challenge of Functions.” – Ciara Howard ‘24

Computer Science 2 (UAS)

“I enjoyed Comp Sci 2 a lot due to how independent it is and how many different ways there are to create a solution.” – Toby Chandriani ‘24  

Arts

Graphic Design

“The Adobe Suite is a cool resource that Urban students have, but it’s not widely used because it’s so daunting. This class teaches you how to use it in an accessible and helpful way. We went one by one focusing on individual features which made it really easy to understand.” – Colby Daniels ‘24

Industrial Design

“Take this class if you want to learn about the thought process behind all the day to day products we use like doors and paper clips. That might not seem thrilling, but the majority of the class is getting to build them how you want to and how you can be creative with the simplest things.” – Vivienne O’Dell ‘24