For two weeks this spring, Upper School students at Berkeley Carroll pressed pause on their usual schedules and dove into Spring Intensives, an immersive program designed to spark curiosity, build skills, and bring learning to life in new and unexpected ways.

This year’s intensives once again transformed New York City itself into a classroom.

In WHEELS: Exploring the City by Skating and Biking, students experienced NYC in motion, building skills in skateboarding and biking while examining how design and infrastructure shape the way we move through urban spaces. Meanwhile, The Math, Physics, and Physiology of Rock Climbing combined physical challenge with scientific inquiry, as students climbed and analyzed the forces, mechanics, and body systems at work behind each ascent.

For a different pace, Drop Everything and Read: SSR in NYC turned the city into a literary escape, with students reading in parks, libraries, and cozy corners across NYC while sharing recommendations and discovering new genres. And in Rewilding & Rebuilding for the Common Good, students worked with their hands, learning woodworking and engaging in community-centered projects rooted in sustainability and service.

Beyond these experiences, students explored a wide range of interests: investigating justice and forensic science, unpacking the cultural impact of sports, and questioning the narratives shaped by museums and public memory. Others focused on wellness, creativity, and the mind-body connection through movement, art, and reflection, while some built technical and collaborative skills through robotics, music performance, and design.

Across every intensive, students were encouraged to take risks, try something new, and engage deeply, with ideas, with each other, and with the world around them.

Spring Intensives continue to be a defining Upper School experience, one that empowers students to learn by doing, thinking, and exploring far beyond the classroom.

Explore the photo galleries to see these experiences in action!