In this class, we'll learn about some of the common techniques that stores use to make customers more likely to buy a product. Then, you'll have a chance to apply these principles into your own designs of a store or a product.

This class will be an overview of simple ways to reduce stress from your life and environment with time through journaling prompts and artistic expression. Come if you always journal! Come if you never journal!

This class will be an overview of simple ways to reduce stress from your life and environment with time through journaling prompts. Come if you always journal! Come if you never journal! (Middle school section)

This class will be an overview of simple ways to reduce stress from your life and environment with time through journaling prompts and topics. Come if you always journal! Come if you never journal! (High school section)

This class will be an overview of simple ways to reduce stress from your life and environment with time for some hands-on practice. Meditation exercises, drawing activities, and journal prompts will be used.

In this class, we'll learn about some of the common techniques that stores use to make customers more likely to buy a product. Then, you'll have a chance to apply these principles into your own designs of a store or a product.

Bring books you are no longer reading and would like to trade. Receive free books that can't be sold in bookstores and can only be donated. Have fun and make new reader friends!

Book lovers, unite! This class will provide you an opportunity to talk about favorite books, get recommendations for new reads from your peers, and explore new authors and titles. If you have books at home you are looking to give away, bring them in! Course instructor will be providing books to take home.

What really makes people happy in a long-lasting way? Scientists suggest it's not a new car or making the varsity team — instead, happiness is something we do and practice. In this class we'll practice some of the techniques that scientists say can make us happier. All you'll need is a paper and pencil.

We'll break off into "teams" and you'll be in charge of making decisions as a business leader would using real world examples. Through exploring these real world examples, you'll learn about how business owners need and use psychological concepts in everyday work.

In this session you'll learn by doing by playing the role of an admissions officer forced to decide which one of a few model students you'd like to admit to your college.

In this class, we'll learn about some of the common techniques that stores use to make customers more likely to buy a product. Then, you'll have a chance to apply these principles into your own designs!

What kinds of techniques do marketers use to encourage you to think you're getting a "deal"? Why do people love their Apple products but think their reliable Samsung or Sony products are just ok? We'll explore these questions and possibly more in our hour together!

Many teens think they'll be happy if they get into a top choice college or if they get a new phone. They assume that a bad grade, a breakup, or a broken bone will make them miserable. However, psychologists who study happiness have learned that happiness is more like a skill that can be acquired and needs constant practice than a state of being. In this session, we'll review some of the basics of what happiness psychologists have discovered and we'll practice some happiness-increasing techniques. We won't need a million dollars or a new smart phone: all we'll use are a paper and pen.

In this session, students will explore issues relating to college admissions by roleplaying a college admissions officer making recommendations on whom to admit to the Dean of Admissions. After discussing model candidates and voting (or intensely arguing) about the outcomes, there will be opportunity for Q+A. The teacher of this class used to work in undergraduate admissions for a highly selective college.

Many teens think they'll be happy if they get into a top choice college or if they get a new phone. They assume that a bad grade, a breakup, or a broken bone will make them miserable. However, psychologists who study happiness have learned that happiness is more like a skill that can be acquired and needs constant practice than a state of being. In this session, we'll review some of the basics of what happiness psychologists have discovered and we'll practice some happiness-increasing techniques. We won't need a million dollars or a new smart phone: all we'll use are a paper and pen.

In this session, students will explore issues relating to college admissions by roleplaying a college admissions officer making recommendations on whom to admit to the Dean of Admissions. After discussing model candidates and voting (or intensely arguing) about the outcomes, there will be opportunity for Q+A. The teacher of this class used to work in undergraduate admissions for a highly selective college.

With apologies to Nate Silver for borrowing from the title of this book, this class, led by a former admissions officer at a highly selective institution, will help students determine the "signal" (what's important) from the "noise" (what the neighbors are gossiping about and what's irrelevant.) In this discussion, we'll help you focus your path to college to make your time as effective as possible and to help you ignore misleading or counterproductive information.

What kinds of techniques do marketers use to encourage you to think you're getting a "deal"? Why do people love their Apple products but think their reliable Samsung or Sony products are just ok? We'll explore these questions and possibly more in our hour together!

While we might think we make decisions "fairly," it turns out that a lot of irrelevant information that surrounds a decision can influence what we do and why. In this class we will cover some famous experiements and even have a chance to run some experiments of our own.

What kinds of techniques do marketers use to encourage you to think you're getting a "deal"? Why do people love their Apple products but think their reliable Samsung or Sony products are just ok? We'll explore these questions and possibly more in our hour together!

Come enjoy conversation with your fellow Splashmates on the books you are reading, have read, or want to read. Come to get ideas on where to find books that you might enjoy reading. Come with books you'd be looking to give away, too!

Have you ever seen a bad movie?? Do you know anybody who has ever seen a bad movie? Have you ever wondered why people tend to keep watching the bad movie, instead of walking out of the movie theater or turning the movie off? If so, this course is for you! We'll discuss some of the shortcuts our brain uses for us, such as loss-aversion, sunk cost, diminishing gains, anchoring, and consistency-- in making daily decisions. This class will be loosely based on "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman.

Will you actually understand religion after taking this class? Hardly. But you WILL appreciate what people have written about religion, why religion makes some people angry and makes perfectly good sense to others, why some people join New Religious Movements ("cults") or almost anything else you may want to ask about the topic. Come in with your own opinions, but come ready to understand and listen to other points of view!

Come by to chat with a former admissions officer about your college search, get a draft of an essay reviewed, brainstorm ideas, or practice your interviewing skills for any college or job! If you would like me to review a college essay in advance, please e-mail estersohn.college@gmail.com

I can't predict much about your future, but I predict you will at some point sit for an interview. That's the bad news. The good news is that interviewing well is a skill you can learn, and one of the best ways to learn is by practicing in front of your peers and receiving feedback on your performance. This session is targeted towards students who will be facing college and internship interviews in the coming months.

In this course, we'll explore the massive question of how artists, using nothing more than paint and a canvas, can influence the way we feel. And after we consider how artists can make us feel a certain way, we will attempt to mimic those feelings through our own art and writing. This course will be part discussion, part "lab time" for arts and writing.

What kinds of techniques do marketers use to encourage you to think you're getting a "deal"? Why do people love their Apple products but think their reliable Samsung or Sony products are just ok? We'll explore these questions and possibly more in our hour together!

This course will be a brief synopsis and discussion of psychologist Jonathan Haidt's research into how our views on morality shape our political beliefs.

In this course, we'll approach questions about "god," "religion," and "belief." We'll read a little bit of what dead males had to say on these topics, and then you'll decided whether you agree or disagree with those dead males.

In this course, we'll explore the massive question of how artists, using nothing more than paint and a canvas, can influence the way we feel. And after we consider how artists can make us feel a certain way, we will attempt to mimic those feelings through our own art and writing. This course will be part discussion, part "lab time" for arts and writing.

... do you like people, but hate crowds? ... find that you like spending a lot of time by yourself? .... often set your cell phone to silent? ... don't enjoy chatting with friends online that much? If any of these sound like you, you're probably an introvert or have introverted tendencies. It does not mean that you're awkward, anti-social, or hate people. It just means that you're wired a little differently. And guess what, I am an introvert, too. In this class we'll discuss the strategies we use to maximize our talents, and we'll talk about the ways that introversion can be beneficial in the real world, such as being a good doctor or scientist or even working in people-intensive roles like sales. And hopefully you will come away from this discussion with a heartier sense of yourself and your needs.

I can't predict much about your future, but I predict you will at some point sit for an interview. That's the bad news. The good news is that interviewing well is a skill you can learn, and one of the best ways to learn is by practicing in front of your peers and receiving feedback on your performance. This session is targeted towards students who will be facing college and internship interviews in the coming months.

Do humans being always make decisions in their best interests? (Hint: they don't.) In this class, we'll discuss some of the ways economists and psychologists have found the irregular and just plain strange ways that humans make decisions, in everything from taking risks to putting on a golf course to buying an item at a store.

Have you ever seen a bad movie?? Do you know anybody who has ever seen a bad movie? Have you ever wondered why people tend to keep watching the bad movie, instead of walking out of the movie theater or turning the movie off? If so, this course is for you! We'll discuss some of the shortcuts our brain uses for us, such as loss-aversion, sunk cost, diminishing gains, anchoring, and consistency-- in making daily decisions.

Why do we like the arts? Why do our brains react a certain way to rhythms, sounds, and colors? This class will be an in-depth attempt to treat these questions and more!

This class will be an in-depth (but by no means exhaustive) look into some of the ways philosophers, social scientists, and others have come to answer questions about religion. Bring your questions and be ready to talk!