Summer-school curriculums typically revolve around the standard triad of science, math, and the language arts, but two Vancouverites are hoping to expand the region’s educational offerings with a series of sessions that teach real-life applicable skills often forgotten in the classroom.

Offered as part of what coordinators and friends Emma Warner Chee and Magín Manolete are calling the Super Cool Summer School, the workshops offer interested locals the chance to engage with and learn skills related to areas such as community organizing, fat politics, and even DIY construction and cooking.

Chee, a sociology student with experience in social-justice work, tells the Straight she was inspired to launch the school after seeing the success of a similar community-minded class hosted by a friend. She also saw a desire from local activist groups—and budding organizers—to share and build on their knowledge toolboxes.

“Once we started thinking about that, we also started thinking about the things the skills that weren’t offered in workshops that we felt like we would be interested in doing,” Chee tells the Straight by phone, “or ones that weren’t offered as often.”

As a result, Chee and Manolete, who also has a background in sociology and organizing, began reaching out to local writers, educators, and other specialists who were interested in sharing their expertise with interested attendees.

Taking place on various dates from Monday (June 18) to September 10, the Super Cool Summer School’s first year in session includes seminars that centre on the basics of arranging a demonstration from the ground up; the unpacking of oppressive systems such as sexism, Islamophobia, and racism; and compassionate intervention, which offers strategies for how to respond in situations where someone does or says something harmful in your family or in public.

There are also lighter courses that teach cooking skills and recipe ideas for catering to large groups or fundraisers, for example, and the ins and outs of maneuvering power tools with the Vancouver Tool Library. Chee and Manolete are hoping to fill two remaining slots with classes that will address transphobia and colonization.

Led by figures such as local writer and activist Harsha Walia and Douglas College professor Naava Smolash, the majority of workshops will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. at Grandview Calvary Baptist Church (1803 East 1st Avenue). Each lesson is $15, though Chee and Manolete note that no one will be turned away if cost is a barrier.

The sessions are open to people of all ages. There will be childcare and ASL interpretation available onsite by request. Registration for courses is required online.

Chee hopes the Super Cool Summer School offers Vancouverites a chance to learn more about the oppressive systems we face and how we can best tackle and break them down as a unit. She also wants the site to be place where attendees can make friends—just like at your typical summer school or camp.

“I think it can definitely be isolating living here, in different ways, and hard to meet people who share your interests,” she says, “and so I hope it can be a safe space where people can also meet each other and build community.”