Your Study, Your Way: Introducing Directed and Alternate Studies

Around 17 seniors of the class of 2025 will be working on 13 Directed or Alternate Studies the coming spring term. The project topics range from the heroin crisis in Greenfield to Jordanian culture and history.

According to Dean of Studies Lydia Hemphill, Academic Affairs has offered Directed and Alternate Studies for at least three decades in an effort to allow seniors to pursue independent projects. Every year, Academic Affairs holds an information session in December, while the student proposals are due in February. Ms. Hemphill and a small committee in the Academic Affairs office then read through each student proposal and decide whether it passes, needs revising or lacks merit. “We usually have a number of science-based or STEM-based projects [and] usually a few in the arts,” Ms. Hemphill said, although the usually dozen or so accepted proposals cover a “variety in terms of subject matter.” 

Ms. Hemphill described a Directed Study as “course you wish were in the course catalog but isn’t.” At the end of the term, the project is then graded numerically by a Deerfield teacher. On the other hand, an Alternate Study “is either a larger project or sort of an amorphous project” that may span multiple periods and “doesn’t fit into traditional academic categories.” Alternate Studies are graded as pass/fail and overseen by an Academy faculty member, though not necessarily a teacher. 

Students who pursue Alternate Studies also present their work to peers and faculty in the last two weeks of the school year. Ms. Hemphill added that although most students undertake projects during a class period. In cases of conflict or if students need extra time, Academic Affairs has either “allowed them to do an alternate study as part of co-curricular time, which is actually a lot more time that one would get for the equivalent of the course, incidentally.” 

Alternate Studies may also occur off-campus, either for certain class periods or for the entire spring term. “It’s a little bit harder these days,” Ms. Hemphill remarked, “between HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996] laws and liability,” complicating projects like shadowing doctors in hospitals, interning with lawyers, or teaching at the Early Learning Center or Bement that past students have done. Even then, off-campus Alternate Studies must be paid for by the families of the student.

Senior Abdullah Ali ’25 described his directed study as “a case study, essentially, of Jordan, of its history, of its culture, of everything.” As a Jordanian, he felt that “most courses [at Deerfield] are taught from the perspectives of the West,” adding, “I think that a Middle Eastern perspective…would be very useful.” 

To that end, Ali has split his course into three parts: independent study while connecting with Jordanian academics, checking in with his directed study advisor Mr. Flaska, and collecting feedback from peers. 

“I feel a lot of responsibility because I’m presenting a very complex part of the world,” Ali described. He continued, “[It] is something that you need to draw from your own initiative…to create something of your own.” 

Preyas Sinha ’24, who undertook a directed study in 2024 centered on Hinduism, focused more on the personal aspect of the experience. He stated, “I think the directed study is a really great way for me to get to learn what I wanted to learn at my own pace and getting to have these really meaningful and productive conversations with my friend.” 

He added, “I think it was a very meaningful way to cap off my learning [and] my academic experience at Deerfield.”

Academic Affairs only offers Directed and Alternate Studies in the spring of senior year so it does not interrupt with students’ academic progression. “We have talked about the possibility of allowing Directed Studies during other points of a senior’s year,” Ms. Hemphill said. “It's just a little more complicated at other points of the year, but it’s not impossible.” 

Academic Affairs has also considered supporting independent projects outside of a student’s senior year. Ms. Hemphill said, “We’ve been thinking about some opportunities for students in between their junior and senior year to work on some projects over the summer that they can then fold into…a Directed Study or an Alternate Study or what might be known as a Capstone project at other schools.” 

Alternate or Directed Studies acts as an opportunity for students to pursue independent projects in the spring term of their senior year. “I really respect the students who have applied and are excited about their projects,” Ms. Hemphill remarked. “It takes a lot of initiative and organization, and it’s a fabulous opportunity to follow a passion, to do something slightly different for part of the spring.”