BEFORE THE FIRST day of her Agora Days class, cake-decorating enthusiast Amy Robison, mother of sophomore Vivian Robison, spent more than an hour baking miniature heart-shaped and Big Bird-shaped cakes for her 12 apprentices to decorate.

The class then spent sixth period practicing introductory decorating techniques on these petite confections using basic tools such as disposable cake-decorating bags and star-shaped and tube-shaped tips.

The result? Twenty-four cakes dressed in a muddle of pink, yellow, white, and black frosting.

Though the first day’s products were below par, improvement was visible by the second day. For the first half of class students taste-tested a variety if commercial and homemade icings like buttercream, made with sugar, butter, milk, and real vanilla extract, and store-bought Pillsbury vanilla frosting.

The remainder of class was spent decorating graham crackers with the different frostings. The students sharpened their shell, star, and tube patterns, and also tried their hand at writing their names.

Amy Robison's class, Introduction to Cake Decorating, is just one example of what you can find this week at Uni High.

Math teacher Rachel Tyson's Learn to Knit — which is becoming an Agora staple — is yet another. In Tyson's class, students learn knitting by making 6-inch squares, which Tyson will sew together to make an afghan that will be donated to charity via the Linus Project.

For more about both those classes, check out our audio clips at right.

Agora Days is a Uni tradition in which the regular curriculum is set aside during a four-day week, and in its place students take classes chosen from more than 100 mini-courses.

The twist is that most of the courses are proposed, planned, and taught by Uni students themselves.

In all, students, faculty, parents, alums, and friends of the school are teaching 113 courses this year. Click here to see the full schedule.

The classes range from academic (47) to fine arts (12) to cooking (six) to games (13) to movies (16) to sports (11) to “other” (eight). Uni's regular schedule will resume on Monday.

In addition, 17 students are spending this week in Clarksdale, Miss., as part of the school's annual Habitat for Humanity trip to the Mississippi Delta. History teacher Bill Sutton founded the trip in 1996. Joining Sutton as a chaperone is PE teacher Doug Mynatt. The students will help the local Habitat chapter build housing for low-income residents.

Gargoyle photographers visited several Agora classes on Wednesday to capture a sense of this week's activities. Here a few examples of what they found.

Senior editor Andrea Park took the photos of Robison's Introduction to Cake Decorating and Tyson's Learn to Knit classes. Sophomore Anna Gooler photographed Salsa Dance, while sophomore Sinda Agha chronicled the happenings in Authentic Italian Pasta and How to Twirl like a Shark: Gangs and Dance (dancing the opening number from "West Side Story").

Salsa Dance is taught by David Lin; Authentic Italian Pasta by Cristina Michelle Gratton, Monica Fabiani, and Revathi Maturi; and How to Twirl like a Shark: Gangs and Dance by Isabel Vazquez and Stephanie Overmier.

Photos by Andrea Park, Anna Gooler & Sindha Agha. Click photos to enlarge.

Introduction to Cake Decorating

CLICK ANY PHOTO to start your own slideshow — then keep clicking.

Learn to Knit

Salsa Dance

Authentic Italian Pasta

How to Twirl like a Shark: Gangs and Dance ("West Side Story")