Academics

MiniTerm

For three weeks each winter, 4th- through 8th-grade students are immersed in Trevor’s unique MiniTerm experience. Through intensive units of study in non-traditional subjects, students have the opportunity to explore personal interests and develop new passions, all while collaborating with students in different grades and connecting with new teachers.

Distinctive course offerings such as CSI Trevor, Modern Political Campaigns in the United States, and Science Triathlon complement Trevor’s traditional math, world languages, and humanities curricula, which are held throughout MiniTerm. To round out the experience, the last two hours of every day are devoted to the arts. Students choose between staging a musical or a variety of dynamic arts courses.

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A MiniTerm Major Accomplishment

Fourth grader, Daniel L., really didn’t want to take Opera as one of his MiniTerm classes. Mis-navigating a “helpful” hint from a fellow student (the friend said, “they never give you your third choice, so put what you don’t want as #3…”), he nonetheless found himself enrolled in Opera.

But Trevor parent Karen Dixon Moussa, a professional Metropolitan Opera singer who teaches this MiniTerm course every other year, changed Daniel’s tune! He ended up loving the class. When the Met began casting their 2013–2014 season in late summer, Ms. Dixon Moussa remembered Daniel’s passionate interest and contacted his parents. She asked if he would like to audition for one of the children’s roles. The casting director was similarly impressed. Not only was he cast as one of Norma’s sons in Norma, but later in the season, he was also cast in Rusalka, as one of several woodland animals.

It was an incredible leap—from having essentially no opera exposure in the spring of 2013—to, only six months later, being a paid performer onstage at the Metropolitan Opera, in front of an audience of 3,000 people and surrounded by some of the world’s greatest opera singers. All because of a MiniTerm class Daniel had hoped to avoid.