At Seattle Lutheran High School north of The Junction, it’s a much-anticipated time of year – “J-Term.” This year, the students in our photo above will be participating in the first “J-Term Abroad,” including senior Alex Okabayashi, who wrote this to explain:

After Christmas Break at Seattle Lutheran High School, we swap our regular classes for elective-based block periods for the entire month of January. We call this “J-Term.” This gives the students opportunities to explore their passions and find something new about themselves. My junior year, I took 3 classes in total: fiber clay, creative writing, and team sports. J-Term let me decompress from finals and start the new year off fresh while also letting me pursue some of my hobbies in a classroom environment.

However, when I heard about the first J-Term Abroad trip, I was instantly hooked. A 2-week marine-science course in the Caribbean with 10 other students on a catamaran sounded spectacular. Scuba-diving and marine biology right on the water sounded amazing, but I was a bit reluctant. I’ve never done anything like this before, but once some of my friends started signing up, the window for this opportunity was shrinking super quickly (all of the spots for guys were taken by the first day)! We’ll be sailing along crystal clear waters surrounded by forested islands in less than a few days, and it feels like everything is coming full circle. Have fun in the rain, by the way…

SLHS, by the way, has an open house coming up January 25th.