Request Info
Apply Now
Schedule a Visit
Virtual Tour
Facebook
January Term
What is January Term?
January Term (J-Term) offers an exciting four-week “break” in the middle of the school year to discover and explore! Courses are offered in a variety of formats, including international study tours, regional trips, or solely on-campus courses that often include field trips.
Most classes are small (generally 10-15 students), allowing a unique connection among students and professors. Whether traveling in Europe or Africa, to the mountains or to the ocean, or staying close to Seattle, students will witness first-hand the excitement of professors who teach creative and exciting courses in the areas of their passions and interests.
Classes are subject to change.
2011 Courses
International Options (Click to view or hide)
Tanzanian Christianity | |
 |
This course’s focus for service will be at the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School in Tanzania. Students will study worldviews and how the spiritual and material worlds intersect. This should be a fascinating and enriching experience. Students will enjoy rich cultures and breathtaking geography. |
Holy Land Study Tour | |
 |
Enjoy an educational and inspirational journey to the Holy Land with beloved Bible teacher and former Academic Dean Lowell Stime. Travel to such places as the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Jezreel Valley. Students will study biblical texts and themes and the places where they occurred. An optional week-long Nile cruise is also available for an extra fee. |
Contemporary Communication (Con)texts: |
|
 Study with a compelling professor in a land brimming with fascinating history and poignant cultural memories. This course considers the production of a variety of “texts” (such as monuments, museums, and memorial art) whose purpose is to strategically remember traumatic events — namely the Holocaust. The course includes field trips to memorial sites within Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland in order to revisit the persuasive work of public memory — how memories are designed and deployed. Students will gain insight into communicative work of public memory by observing and participating in enactments of remembrance and learning how to critically assess these public memory texts. |
|
Regional Off-site Options (Click to view or hide)
Liturgical Songwriting: Living in Meditation, Song & Silence |
| This course will take place in a monastic-style community and will explore the different elements of liturgy from several different church settings, including Orthodox, traditional Lutheran, contemporary and post-modern. Additionally, the importance of chants, prayer, meditation, silence, symbolism and ritual will be incorporated into daily worship routine. Students will be expected to take an active role in the community by helping with daily jobs around the campus. The course will conclude with students composing and leading their own liturgical pieces for the entire community crafted into a closing worship service. |
On-Campus Options (Click to view or hide)
Multimedia Message Design |
|
 |
An overview of theories and conceptual tools used to design digital messages for various media. Students explore ethical and legal issues underlying the design process as well as engage with a variety of technologies and computer applications necessary to create digital content for various multimedia venues. |
Sports, Music, and Entertainment Business |
|
 Come learn entrepreneurial, program management, and communication skills with hands-on, practical experiences. Students will meet with professionals in sports, music, and entertainment industries, with special focus on the unique cultural and athletic community in Everett. Students may participate in projects related to local minor league athletic programs, independent recording companies, video production and the promotion of Trinity’s annual Playfest event, to be held at the Everett Historic Theater in April 2011. Students will increase their knowledge base, build networks, and develop their resumes. |
|
Writing Creative Nonfiction |
|
| Focusing on a human’s interaction with the natural world, this course engages students in reading and writing narratives centered outdoors. In addition to reading many wonderful prose and poetry examples, students will create a portfolio of their own nature writing. This course would include several day trips in the area: Whidbey Island, the North Cascades, Mt. Baker, Deception Pass, and the Olympic Peninsula. In addition, we will also spend at least one night at Camp Lutherwood in Bellingham. | |
Intensive Spanish |
|
| Using the textbook Sol y Viento, which features a video story about a Chilean winery and and the international characters involved in it, students will study Hispanic culture, literature and the Spanish language. This intensive course is equivalent to about 1-1/2 years of high school Spanish. Both present and past tenses will be covered via the textbook and supplementary materials, including conversation, games, songs, and Internet workbook with listening activities. | |
History of the Bible |
|
 This course is suited for students who wish to get a good overview of the Bible, its history, its form, and the basics of interpretation. (This course also fulfills a Trinity Core requirement.) |
|
2012 Courses
International Options (Click to view or hide)
Nature Schools—Scotland |
|
 |
Learn about Professor Houglum’s passion for the nature school movement in the beautiful Scottish Highlands. Engage with practitioners who are re-envisioning a new way of developing the social and mental abilities of children. In a world that is often increasingly urbanized and driven by technology, students will explore ways to incorporate nature into even urban contexts for early childhood education. |
Religion in Britain—UK |
|
 Stay at a college in Oxford while exploring the places and themes of theology, history, and sacred spaces of England and Scotland. Short stays in London and Scotland will allow for enriching and enlivening visits to sites that will address history and movements from the Reformation to the contemporary context. Sites visited will include the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, the Chiselhurst caves, the breathtaking city of Oxford with its libraries and museums, and the beautiful city of Cambridge, with its collegiate atmosphere and cultural attractions. Students will get the chance to meet and dine with at least two world-class theologians and church leaders. |
|
Economics and Mexico |
|
| A lower-cost international experience, students will travel the West Coast and into Baja, California, with two faculty members who will discuss various issues related to the economy of Mexico, including issues related to politics and immigration. Students will engage in significant service projects, in concert with organizations working for creative solutions to poverty. | |
Regional Off-site Options (Click to view or hide)
Service through Sports—Snohomish County |
|
| Situated on beautiful Lake Samish, students will learn, through experience, to operate rewarding athletic clinics for young people in Washington State. The emphasis on the course will be on service through teaching athletic skills and teamwork. Students must apply and demonstrate abilities in some area of need, especially basketball and soccer. | |
Situated Learning at the St. Thomas School |
|
 Join the Early Learning Center Faculty at St. Thomas School in Medina, WA. Take the opportunity to shadow an expert teacher in an early learning classroom four mornings each week as they plan curriculum experiences, address learning standards and teach with intentionality and inspire children to be active learners, problem solvers and risk takers. In addition a weekly afternoon seminar will be held providing students with the opportunity to process their daily experiences and become familiar with the philosophies and inspirations that are promoted in the Early Learning Center. These include Loris Malaguzzi (Reggio Emilia), Lillian Katz (Project Approach) and Lev Vygotsky (Constructivist Approach). The center models a learning environment that is provocative, full of intellectually rigorous content, and challenges children grow beyond their level of current mastery. |
|
History of Church Architecture |
|
 This course surveys the development of Christian church architecture in Western culture, including the Early Christian, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Modern periods. Specific attention will be given to the integration of theology and architecture in French and English Gothic cathedrals, as well as the amazing feats of Renaissance architecture in Italy. Includes numerous site visits to churches in Everett and Seattle. |
|
On-Campus Options (Click to view or hide)
Good and Evil |
|
| As much as the language of “good and evil” is a part of Western culture, the field of psychology has brought new light to these concepts. Students will investigate intriguing - and sometimes startling – propensity of humans for both kindness and cruelty. | |
Leadership and the Art of Influence |
|
| How does a person provide leadership when he/she has little or no authority? This hands-on class introduces students to providing leadership through influence and through communication tools that build trust and help leaders to better achieve desired organizational outcomes. With examples from film clips and actual organizational issues, students experience scenarios in class where they learn how to lead, influence and coach more effectively. | |
Oceanography |
|
 |
This course will study our vibrant and delicate oceans, with special trips down to the waterfront for field experiences. (This course counts toward a general studies requirement.) |
2013 Courses
International Options (Click to view or hide)
Classical Communication Contexts: Greece & Rome |
|
 The communication discipline has its origins in the study of the spoken word and its power to move and persuade. Greece and Rome are the sites of much of this history of the spoken word from epic storytelling to oratory. This course examines the role of speech, oratory, and conversation in the civic and private lives of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Daily life in Athens, Rome, and elsewhere during the Classical period will be reconstructed from archaeological and textual evidence, and the roles and contexts of speech will be investigated. The course includes field trips within Athens and to other sites throughout Greece and Italy. Students will gain additional intercultural communication insights by observing and participating in a contemporary culture that continues to surround itself with, and be influenced by, its ancient history. |
|
Pilgrimage: Holy Journeys to Iona, Wittenberg, and Taize |
|
| Explore the concept of spiritual pilgrimage by traveling to pilgrimage sites in Europe. Travel to Iona brings students to the center of Celtic spirituality, travel to Wittenberg brings young scholars to the doorstep of the European Protestant Reformation, and time in the Taizé community in Burgundy, France, will allow students to encounter the ecumenical order where young people from around the world have gone to discover worship and Christian community in renewing and creative ways. | |
Religion in China |
|
 |
This situated learning experience will combine service learning with lectures and conversations related to the three primary religious traditions in East Asia — Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism — as well as intersections with the Colonial West, the growth of various movements within Chinese Christianity, and emergence new religious movements. |
Regional Off-site Options (Click to view or hide)
Pacific Northwest Literature |
|
| Pacific Northwest Literature will focus on the “great” works by Washington and Oregon writers. Drawing from prose and poetry by Annie Dillard, Ken Kesey, Robin Cody, Craig Lesley, William Stafford, Madeline L’Engle, and other local authors, students will examine how region and sense of place affects an author’s craft. This course will involve an overnight trip to Portland for a visit with author Robin Cody. | |
Taking a Stand: Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer |
|
 |
Students will enjoy a reading-intensive, seminar-style study of Bonhoeffer’s theology at the Bonhoeffer Gardens, a few miles north of Trinity’s Everett campus. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which theology intersects with practical and political realities. |
On-Campus Options (Click to view or hide)
Young Adult Literature |
| This course covers the variety of literature available to young adults (ages 12 to 19). Meeting once a week, students will read and analyze authors such as Madeline L’Engle and Katherine Patterson, to learn about various historical, educational, and cultural topics and issues addressed within young adult literature. |
Values-based Leadership |
| We’d all like to believe that we live out our values, yet experience shows us that for each of us, there is sometimes a gap between what we espouse and how we behave. In addition, many people find at some point in their working lives that circumstances have distracted them from what is most important to them. It takes thoughtfulness, intention, and sometimes courage to act out of our values, let alone lead with them. In this course, you will experience the power of creating a Community of Practice in which we will explore theory, tools, and practices for life-long learning that will strengthen your ability and effectiveness to act — and lead — from a place of heart as well as head. |
Pacific Northwest History |
| An overview of the history and culture of the Pacific Northwest with special attention to Washington. Students will explore the natural and cultural history of the region on short day trips. |
Faith and Discipleship |
| Grounded in the study of Mark, this course introduces students to a Gospel and basic points of Christianity. (This course counts toward the Trinity Core requirement.) |
2014 Courses
International Options (Click to view or hide)
Social Revolution—Eastern Europe |
|
 |
Study the history and social psychology behind the concept of Revolution in the places where thinkers and political events took place. Attention to contemporary issues and revolutionary movements will allow students to meet with world political leaders. |
Service through Sports—Costa Rica |
|
| In the beautiful and ecologically rich country of Costa Rica, students will learn, through experience, to operate rewarding athletic clinics for young people and a youth camp facility. The emphasis of the course will be on service through teaching athletic skills and teamwork. Students must apply and demonstrate abilities in some area of need, especially basketball and soccer. | |
Holy Land Study Tour |
|
 |
Enjoy an educational and inspirational journey to the Holy Land. Travel to such places as the Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Jezreel Valley. Students will study biblical texts and themes and the places where they occurred. Optional week long tourism options are also available for an extra fee. |
Regional Off-site Options (Click to view or hide)
Jesus and Surfing |
|
 Students will live at a state beach south of Los Angeles, CA, where they will study the unique religious climate of southern California from 1960 to present. Special attention will be paid to trends within evangelical movements, new religious movements that grew out of the 1960s counter culture, the “Jesus Freak” phenomenon, and the intersections between politics, economics and faith in the state of West Coast evangelicalism. Students will have daily opportunities to learn how to surf and some good intellectual conversations are likely to occur between sets of waves. |
On-Campus Options (Click to view or hide)
Christian Hospitality & Table Fellowship |
|
| This course explores the biblical, historical, and contemporary views of Christian hospitality, with a focus on welcoming others and care of the stranger. The topic is further developed by integrating Old Testament understandings of food and the New Testament understanding of table fellowship. Students will consider the implication of their learning on their personal lives and communities of faith. Includes off-campus experiences with organizations that provide hospitality and welcome. | |
Multimedia Message Design |
|
 |
An overview of theories and conceptual tools used to design digital messages for various media. Students explore ethical and legal issues underlying the design process as well as engage with a variety of technologies and computer applications necessary to create digital content for various multimedia venues. |
The Concept of Healing |
|
| Drawing from anthropology and the helping professions, this course will use journaling, time in nature and group conversation for students to connect with themselves as healers. To become healers and leaders we must first lead ourselves to understand what it means personally to heal. | |
Leadership in the Movies |
|
| Study models — both good and bad — of leaders in business, politics, war, and culture through a selection of feature films. Special attention will be paid to both the popular reception of leadership methods and communication as well as to the characteristics and strategies leaders have used to create successful organizations and movement. | |
Creation and New Creation |
|
 |
Study Genesis, Exodus, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians and theological themes including stewardship of God’s creation, diverse worldviews, and vocation. (This course counts toward the Trinity Core requirement.) |
English Composition |
|
| This general education requirement will take place in a way that allows students to focus on honing their writing without the distraction of other classes. Students will learn the basics of writing, with refresher work related to research and citation. | |