POTSDAM -- Clarkson University's Project Challenge, a unique academic program for local high school students, returns this winter with a choice of nine five-week courses.

The program is designed to offer area students an opportunity to participate in classes not commonly offered in their high-school curriculum.

Clarkson faculty and administrators teach the courses on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until noon for five weeks from Jan. 15 to Feb. 12.

This year the program offers three new courses: Real Medicine, Blood and Guts: Medical History through the Ages, and Gen Y: in Business.

Real Medicine, with instructors from Clarkson's new Physician Assistant Program, will provide students with an opportunity to learn about the real world of today's medicine.

Blood and Guts: Medical History through the Ages with Stephen Casper will provide students with an opportunity to explore a number of different case studies from actual historical medical records and advance medical problem solving skills.

Gen Y in Business with Mike Walsh and Erin Draper will focus on the entrepreneurial spirit of students and allow them to develop ideas and concepts in a "real world" context.

Digital Creativity with Julie Davis will provide an introduction to software and concepts relating to 2-D computer generated art and design.

Know Your Computer: How to Make Your Home Computer Work for You with Jeanna Matthews will have students see what kind of data goes over the network when they surf the Web or use AIM, as well as look at traces of common attacks like viruses or worms. They will write their own Web page and learn to install an operating system from Windows.

Cryptography through the Ages with Christino Tamon will look at the science of designing and breaking secret codes from Roman to modern times and focus on the use of computer programming in modern cryptography.

Students can study the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment in The First Amendment in American Democracy with Christopher Robinson.

This class will examine how these freedoms are affected by wars abroad and terrorist threats at home.

Students will also have the opportunity to express their creative side in Creativity and Imagination with poet Joseph Duemer. This course features guest visual artists and students will create their own journal/notebook.

And Mary Alice Minor of Clarkson's Physical Therapy Program will provide hands-on instruction on diagnosing injuries and the study of anatomy and physical therapy in Saturdays with Grey's Anatomy.

Schools that have participated in the past include Alexandria Bay, Brasher Falls, Brushton-Moira, Canton, Chateaugay, Clifton-Fine, Colton-Pierrepont, Edwards-Knox, Gouverneur, Herman-Dekalb, Heuvelton, Indian River, Lisbon, Lyme, Malone, Massena, Morristown, Ogdensburg, Parishville-Hopkinton, Potsdam, Sackets Harbor, Salmon River, Saranac Lake, and Thousand Islands.

Interested students should first contact their guidance counselor to see if their school is participating. Participating high schools may sponsor all or part of the students' tuition.

If the school is not participating, the out-of-pocket expense for the program is $140 per student. Enrollment in all courses is now available.

For more information, contact Brenda Kozsan or Annette Green at 268-4425 or [email protected].