Marist Evening Series

Marist Evening Series

Stretch your creativity, learn something new, think globally, or explore aspects of the Christian faith. The Marist Evening Series features three evenings of captivating courses for adults taught by the accomplished Marist School faculty and staff. Invite your friends and neighbors and come learn something new during the Marist Evening Series.

General Information and Registration

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  • Dates and Times

    The 2023 Marist Evening Series will take place in January 23, January 30, and February 6 from 7 - 9 p.m.

  • Fees

    Early Bird Registration will open at 10 a.m. on December 13 at $95. Please note that we will not accept cancellations for refunds after Monday, January 16.

    *Please make sure to check each class' registration as some courses may differ in prices.

Marist Evening Series Courses

Marist Evening Series courses cover a wide range of topics, including religion and spirituality, art and music, college planning, history and culture; creative writing, technology, and more.

Art History

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  • INTRODUCTION TO ART HISTORY

    Introduction to Art History

    Instructor: Dr. Michael Bieze

    This three-evening course will be determined in collaboration with Dr. Bieze and the participants. This course will follow in the spirit of Tolkien’s “Not all those who wander are lost” and will wander meaningfully. We hope you will join us!

    Dr. Michael Bieze is the Chair of the Marist Fine Arts Department. He was an AP Art History consultant for the College Board for thirty years. He has presented at numerous academic conferences over the years, most recently a talk at the Frick Museum in Pittsburg for the opening of an exhibition connecting John Ruskin with America’s first black art movement. He has published numerous works, including two books on Booker T. Washington and African American art.

College Planning

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  • COLLEGE PLANNING 101: GETTING EQUIPPED FOR THE JOURNEY

    (Please note this is a two night course)

    Instructor    : Mr. Robert Von Hagen
    There is a lot that parents need to know about preparing for and helping their children gain admission into college, paying for it, and mounting an effective and productive college search. But it doesn’t need to be overwhelming. This course is focused on parents of students in grades 7-11. Over the course of six hours and three class meetings, you will be better positioned to understand just how much college admission has changed from when you applied yourself.
     
    Session 1:  Current Trends in College Admission and Understanding the Elements of “Holistic” Admission Review.  What’s going on out there and why? We’ll survey the higher education landscape, encompassing more than 3,000 colleges and universities.  We’ll also consider factors that are most important to colleges in making admissions decisions.         
     
    Session 2 Sorting Colleges, Financial Aid & Scholarships, and Helpful Resources: How do you narrow down your college list?  What’s the process and landscape for aid and scholarships?  We’ll discuss creating a college list and review need-based aid, merit-based scholarships, and more.  And, we’ll consider college resources and identify the good, the bad, and the ugly. 
     
     
    Mr. Von Hagen is a college counselor at Marist School for 25 years and was named the Director of College Counseling this past year. Robert has facilitated Marist School’s Career Connections Internship Program for 14 years. Mr. Von Hagen also coaches for both the middle school cross country and track and field teams.

Technology & Broadcasting

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  • INTRODUCTION TO X-PLANE 12 FLIGHT SIMULATOR

    Introduction to X-Plane 12 Flight Simulator

    Instructor:     Mr. Martin Torres

    Have you ever wondered what it’s like to pilot your own aircraft? This course will introduce you to the basics of flight simulation from takeoff, basic turns & maneuvers to landing a single engine aircraft.

    X-Plane 12 flight simulator software is used in the real world to train student pilots who are obtaining their private pilot’s license in general aviation.

    No prior aviation experience required.

    Here’s a sneak peek of what X-Plane can do: youtu.be/ehGFJYR6QVs (copy and paste link into your browser)

    Session 1    : Using X-Plane 12’s built-in Flight School you’ll learn the basics of flying, airplane cockpit controls and changing various aerial views. Learn to take off from a runway in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk airplane. Participants will also be introduced to X-Plane’s free mobile app using a provided Apple iPad..

    Session 2:     Train to land a Cessna 172 on a runway. The session then moves on to flying simple traffic patterns from takeoff, fly a training pattern, and then land back on the runway.

    Session 3:     Learn how to land a Cessna 172 using an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach with autopilot. We will then implement that new skill by landing a commercial Boeing 737-800 airliner.

    Martin Torres has been employed at Marist School for 15 years as a Technology Support Specialist. He received his IT Networking and Information Security education at Gwinnett Technical College. He is CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ certified. Although not a licensed pilot himself, he’s had a passion and interest for aviation since his youth.

  • WRITING FOR TELEVISION

    ​Writing for Television

    Instructor: Mr. Scott Tufts

    Join us in learning how to research, pitch, and write stories for a television news show. Script stories for short anchor reports and reporter packages. 

    Participants will choose from a variety of news genres, including Domestic News, International News, Business News, Sports and Science. Learn proper scripting format, editorial standards and have your scripts copyedited to go ON-AIR.  Then, participants will “report” their stories in the studio, reading off the teleprompter while other classmates operate cameras and control room duties (basic control room training will be provided as part of this course). Participants will need to supply their own laptops.

    Mr. Scott Tufts is in his first year teaching media and broadcasting as well as serving as the moderator of the Marist Broadcast Club (MBC) at Marist School.  Scott has over two decades of award-winning work in television and video production, including at The Weather Channel, CNN, and Court TV.

History and Culture

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  • ATLANTA'S WEIRD HISTORY

    Atlanta's Weird History
    Instructor: Ms. Sarah Conn

    Have you been to the anti-gravity monument? Have you seen the gravesite of Tweet the Bird? Did you know there's a hidden African American cemetery in the heart of Buckhead? Metro Atlanta is full of wonderful and weird history if you know where to look. As a Michigan transplant, I've spent countless hours traveling the metro region getting to know all sorts of amazing places, and stories along the way. I'll be sharing a plethora of places to visit. This course is perfect for those who love to learn about the history that's all around us.

    Session 1: Memorable Memorials - In this session we'll talk about one of my favorite places to visit - cemeteries. Get to know some of the local cemeteries and memorials around Atlanta. You'll learn about the historic African- American South View Cemetery, Westview, and Victorian Oakland Cemetery, as well as other lesser known cemeteries around Atlanta.

    Session 2: Atlanta's Weird History - In this session we'll cover some other sites around Atlanta that you can visit. This will range from a peculiar science memorial, the site of a gruesome cannonball hit, remnants of Indigenous peoples on the Chattahoochee, to some haunted history in Marietta and Decatur.

    Session 3: Sunday Afternoon Field Trip! We'll meet at Westview Cemetery and visit the Marist plot, as well as a tour of the Coca-Cola Chandlers and Woodruffs, among others. We'll also take a look at their beautiful chapel. We'll then travel to Oakland Cemetery to visit a few more notable sites, like resting places of the Tweet the Bird, Kenny Rogers, some Civil War US soldiers buried in Oakland, along with many other sites. (Please note this class takes place on SUNDAY February 5th)
     
     
    Sarah Conn has been teaching at Marist for 12 years and teaching for over 20 years total. Her day job consists of teaching physical science and physics, but outside of school, her husband Mike and Sarah (along with their dogs Boo and Scout), like to travel around Atlanta visiting weird and wonderful spots. Sarah developed an interested in history as a little girl visiting her relatives in Appalachia. Her aunts and uncles would weave tall tales about hidden moonshine stills, ghostly visits in their old farmhouse, and hidden cabins and houses in the holler. Every spot has a story, and she was always curious about those who lived before her and what they left behind.

  • THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT: THE LONG 1990s

    Instructors: Dr. Nic Hoffmann and Mr. Mike Burns

    Ah, the 1990s, such a forgettable decade. NOT! Get out your flannel, we are going to get grungy. Stretching from 1989 to 9/11, we read lips as he raised taxes, hung around for a sax solo as we learned boxers vs briefs, we bombed Iraq while a Unibomber attacked us. There were bombings in Oklahoma City, Atlanta, New York before 9/11, and an attack on 9/11. There were four trials of the century (Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Kaczynski, OJ Simpson, the Menendez Brothers) and an Impeachment. From the Brady Bill to Columbine, Ruby Ridge to Waco, from the Fall of the Wall to Pope John Paul II, from Independent Cinema to the Star Wars Prequels, from punk to alternative to grunge to ska to boy bands to the Willenium. We had friends in low places, we balanced the budget, and learned life is like a box of chocolates. It’s just a shame no one survived Y2K. Oh well, nevermind…

    Session 1:     We brush up on Reaganomics, pop our collars and talk about the end of the Cold War and take our foreign affairs to 9/11.
    Homework assigned: Films of New Hollywood and the music from 1988-1996.

    Session 2:     We talk about the culture of the disaffected Generation X, from Nirvana to Pearl Jam and talk about their rejection of their Cold Warrior Parents to make new art in the form of the independent movie movement, and garage bands.
    Homework assigned: Films of Independent filmmakers and documentarians and the music from 1996-2002.

    Session 3:     We discuss the movies of independence as our domestic politics push us deeper and deeper into distrust of the government, fear of domestic terror, and challenges to the safety of our children. As the towers come down we attempt to learn if the Truth is out there.)
     
     
    Dr. Nic Hoffmann (Class of ‘03) and Mr. Mike Burns are both recipients of the MacGinnitie Award for Innovation and have taught the American Experiment course together for three years. With four decades of experience, they have developed a humanities-based approach to studying American literature, history, and culture. Their aim for the Evening Series to create an environment of shared learning for all who attend. Come ready to join in.

  • THE HISTORY OF THE HOLOCAUST

    Instructor: Mr. Brendan Murphy
     
    The study of the Holocaust is a humanizing endeavor, a journey through the past that helps us reconsider how we understand ourselves as human beings. As Pope Francis said while visiting the Great Synagogue in Rome, “The Holocaust teaches us to always maintain the highest level of vigilance in order to be able to intervene immediately in the defense of human dignity and peace.”

    Session 1: The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. During this first evening we will trace the long and tragic history of antisemitism to help us confront one of the central questions to understanding the history of the Holocaust: why the Jews?
     
    Session 2: For our second evening together, we will look directly at the history of the Holocaust from the rise of the Nazi party to the end of World War II.
     
    Session 3: For our final evening together we will bear witness to the Holocaust by hearing from World War II veteran, Hilbert Margol, who as a member of the 42nd Infantry “Rainbow” Division fought across Europe serving in the Alsace, Ardennes, and Rhineland campaigns, until their unit found there way to southern Germany where they liberated the Dachau Concentration Camp in April, 1945. In preparation for Hilbert’s presentation participants should view the documentary film The Last Days which can be found on Netflix and other streaming services.  
     
    Mr. Murphy has been a social studies teacher for 26 years. He was recently awarded the 2017 Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Abe Goldstein Human Relations Award and Marist School's Faber-McKinley-Stadler Award. In 2013-2014, he was awarded Marist School’s Goizueta Chair of Excellence. In 2009, he was named Educator of the Year by University of Notre Dame; and in 2009 and 2016, he was named Georgia Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust. He also has been named a Mandel Fellow by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and a Lerner Fellow by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous.

  • THE MIDDLE EAST

    Instructor: Dr. Louisa Moffitt
     
    The Middle East is an area of the world that is of critical importance to the United States, yet one that is often little understood and weighted down by many stereotypes. These classes will offer a more nuanced view of the region, its people, and its political issues than what is found in the daily headlines.
     
    Session 1: Islam: what it is and what it is not. This class will offer an introduction to basic beliefs and major sects, women and “the veil,” and the role Islam plays in current political considerations.
     
    Session 2: The Arab-Israeli conflict: a short history and a look at how the landscape has changed after four years of the Trump administration. What is the position of Israel in the new-Netanyahu era, and what is the role of the United States now?
     
    Session 3: The current situation in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and the Gulf region after US withdrawal from Afghanistan; the role of Iran and Saudi Arabia in new regional alignments; the Kurds, ISIS, and the Taliban. Where does the United States go next?
     
    Dr. Moffitt has been on the faculty of Marist School for 36 years, teaching both Middle East Studies and AP United States History, as well as working with the school’s Archives with Dr. Michael Bieze. A longtime consultant for the College Board, she has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including the Middle East Studies Association’s National Service Award. Her publications include an examination of the history of immigration in America on the World Stage, published by the Organization of American Historians.

Religion & Spirituality

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  • A MARIST EDUCATION: SOCIETY OF MARY REFLECTIONS FOR MARIST FAMILIES

    Instructor: Fr. Bill Rowland, S.M.

    This is a one night session on Monday, January 23. There is no cost to attend.

    The Marists are called to “follow Jesus as Mary did” and to “be Mary” in the world. This mystical vision of Christian living was first articulated two hundred years ago by the founder of the Society of Mary, the Venerable Jean Claude Colin.

    Building a Marist Way of life at Marist School has been a mission of the Society of Mary priests for over 120 years.

    This one-night offering allows parents and others to reflect upon the Society of Mary at the school and further provide insights as to how “Marist” values can be shared in your family.

    Spiritual activities on campus supporting this Marist Way will also be noted.

     

Important Information

Registration for the 2023 Evening Series is now closed. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Alumni Office at alumni@marist.com. 

Contact Us

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  • Photo of Kathryn Brown

    Mrs. Kathryn Fowler  Brown 06

    Director of Alumni Engagement

Marist School

3790 Ashford Dunwoody Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30319-1899
(770) 457-7201
An Independent Catholic School of the Marist Fathers and Brothers