Roo Honors Academy is a one-week program designed to academically challenge and expand the minds of high school students who are entering grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. The program will take place June 21-25, 2021, 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and will be held in-person at UMKC’s Volker campus. Students will choose one morning and one afternoon course from among those offered. Students will need to bring their own lunch, except on Friday. Students will receive a free t-shirt.
The cost of the program is $265. This is a selective program accepting a maximum of 30 students, and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Application deadline: May 1.
Courses Include:
Cuisine as Culture
Food, from its production to consumption, is a powerful symbol of social and cultural meaning. How food is prepared and consumed is packed with cultural, gender, religious, ethnic, and class meanings among many others. We will explore how and why we eat what we do, and how food is used to create distinctions between individuals and communities.
Evolution of Cities and Wildlife
Human population growth is, ultimately, the most significant challenge to the conservation of wild populations. This class will explore how cities have evolved over time, how they threaten wildlife populations, and how conservation priorities are being incorporated in cities. We will test these ideas in the field by sampling the diversity of vertebrates and pollinators in the Kansas City urban core.
Environmental Justice
How is it that certain groups of people do not have access to basic resources, or are systematically burdened with pollution or environmental hazards to a greater extent than other groups? We begin by exploring foundational concepts such as justice, race, and class, and applying them to a series of case studies of environmental (in)justice in the U.S. Through these case studies, we will examine environmental justice issues in urban and rural settings; the strategies and politics of poor peoples’ environmental justice movements; problems associated with protected areas (e.g. national parks) and local populations; oil development and indigenous peoples, and climate justice in the global South.
Kansas City as Text
This class will use the “City as Text” learning method, which sends students into communities to investigate important issues and questions by mapping, observing, listening, and reflecting. Dr. Wood and UMKC Honors students, as well as many other Honors students and faculty, have used this fun and innovative educational approach for many years. A key component of the “City as Text” learning method is the “walkabout,” a structured investigation of a particular place. In teams on designated days, you will investigate the UMKC campus and the Country Club Plaza. We will prepare for the walkabouts by addressing conceptions of culture and background material. At the end of the week, you will collaborate with peers to produce a short presentation about what you learned.
