Want to strengthen your ability to persuade an audience? In this course, you’ll read critical and literary texts that will sharpen your ability to think and write critically about yourself and the world around you. You will write and revise essays of varying lengths, including a capstone essay demonstrating the writing skills and cultural criticism strategies you have developed throughout the course. Writing workshops provide the valuable opportunity to grow with the support and insight of your peers.

What is justice? What is beauty? What is the right thing to do? What is real? How can I be sure of what I know? This philosophy class will cultivate and refine your critical thinking skills by asking you to consider such fundamental questions. The emphasis is not on finding the answers, but on understanding the process of reasoning through a problem. You and your classmates will explore the methods philosophers use to develop and assess potential solutions.

Have you ever wondered why you slide into your friend when you're on the Tilt-A-Whirl, or why you don't fly out of a rollercoaster even when you're traveling upside down? Examine the physics of our everyday lives and how these forces work in popular amusement parks.

Explore key concepts such as acceleration, gravity, and potential and kinetic energy as you investigate how rides are engineered to utilize these concepts for thrilling results.

Countries addressing a global challenge like climate change, weapons proliferation, or the coronavirus pandemic often present their concerns to the United Nations. The ways in which the U.N. tackles them is sometimes controversial. Nevertheless, understanding its mission and functions remains essential to international relations. In this course, you will study the structure and processes of this multilateral institution through readings, discussions, research, and short lectures.

Step right up and try your hand at solving some of the world’s classic math conundrums! We have options galore: Plinko, Golden Balls, Deal or No Deal, and many more. Pull the curtain back on the mathematical theories behind some of the most enduring probability puzzles and popular TV game shows, and gain insight into game design and contestants’ thought processes. Critically apply your new knowledge and skills to explore decision-making and strategy in game shows through both independent and group work such as problem-solving challenges, discussions, and simulations.

The best nonfiction is vivid, informative, and gripping. It can startle readers with new perspectives on society, reveal mysteries in medicine, bring life and character to history, and build suspense into feats of engineering. In memoirs, biographies, and investigations, nonfiction writers challenge readers to understand others, to engage with new and stimulating ideas, and to broaden their views of the world. This writing workshop will develop your understanding of nonfiction writing strategies and help you blend facts with figurative language to create vibrant, memorable nonfiction.

Discover the role that chemistry plays in your everyday life in this experiment-intensive course. Through hands-on chemistry activities, you’ll learn about the states of matter, explore different types of mixtures (and make your own!), and learn about subatomic particles and building atom models. As you continue your focus on chemistry in the kitchen, you’ll witness endothermic reactions in a bread-baking activity and learn about enzymes, fermentation, and food preservation with related at-home labs.

Your new friend at CTY teaches you a dice game. If you roll a 4, you win and the game ends. If your friend rolls a 5, they win and the game ends. You take turns rolling until one person wins. If you roll first, what is the probability you will win? This course explores probability and statistics, two areas of mathematics that easily transfer from the classroom to the real world. You and your classmates will conduct experiments and learn to make graphs, charts, and tables to display data.

Strengthen your analytical and problem-solving skills and become a stronger competitor in this challenging course that’s designed for students with minimal math competition experience at the middle school level. Through lessons, sample problems, videos, and mini-competitions, we’ll build on ideas introduced in Middle School Competitive Mathematics I, developing your skills in logic, algebra, geometry, number theory, and probability.

Did you know the idea for the microwave all started with a candy bar? Inventor Percy Spencer was standing in front of a magnetron when he noticed his chocolate treat was melting in his pocket. When Spencer held a bag of corn kernels next to the magnetron and they started popping, he knew he was on to something. This course will teach you about inventors like Spencer, their creations, and their impacts on our world. If you’re the kind of kid who likes to take things apart to figure out how they work, this is the class for you.