Kate Stewart is preparing for a class that’s a little different from others at the University of Washington’s Experimental College: ‘Flirting 101.’

Stewart, who is also a dating coach and therapist, didn’t originally intend for her class to be called ‘Flirting 101.’ 

‘I wanted to start a class called ‘Geek’s Guide to Girls,’ geared toward male geeks who wanted to learn how to communicate with girls, but Experimental College wouldn’t allow a class geared specifically to a male demographic,’ she said.

Experimental College, founded in 1968, offers affordable, noncredit courses in alternative education, according to the website.

The course catalog offers everything from traditional language classes to more adventurous courses, such as ‘It’s Time to Write Your Screenplay’ and ‘Beginning Trapeze,’ according to the website.

The lack of social interaction among people in the Seattle area inspired Stewart to design her own ‘Flirting 101’ course, she said. The course was a necessary addition to Experimental College because people in the Seattle culture tend to be more removed, she said.

Many people in the area are of Northern European descent, Stewart said, which makes them more isolated and polite. People from warmer climates, such as Italy or the Caribbean, tend to be more outwardly friendly, she said.  

‘We call it the ‘Seattle freeze,” Stewart said. ‘It’s not that people are unfriendly, but people here tend to be quieter, more stoic.’

Much like the rest of UW, Experimental College runs on seasonal quarters, not semesters.

Stewart is preparing to begin teaching her third quarter of ‘Flirting 101’ at the end of March. Typically, there have been about 10 students in her class each quarter, she said. Stewart said with the publicity the Seattle media has given her course, she anticipates higher student registration in the coming quarter. 

Students pay $66 for the course, and the class is open to the general public for a $90 fee, according to the Experimental College website.

Stewart also said she is working on creating another class to add to the curricula, called ‘Flirting 201,’ which will focus on topics such as speed dating, the potentially awkward first date and Internet dating, through which she met her fiancé.

Though Stewart was not the first person in the Seattle area to create a course geared toward the topic of flirting, she did design her own course material for ‘Flirting 101.’ The class is less of a lesson on flirting and more about connecting with others and ‘being brave,’ Stewart said.

Jessica Rawlings, a participant in Stewart’s class last quarter, said the most important idea she learned from the course was to ‘strike while the iron’s hot.’

‘Kate told us just not to think too much about it while you’re doing it. It should be natural and comfortable,’ Rawlings said. ‘You should feel comfortable just walking up to a person, talking to the other person and getting to know them.’

Stewart’s best piece of advice for anyone who wants to learn how to be a better flirt is to be friendly.

‘Try not to be scared by flirting,’ she said. ‘It starts simply, with people making eye contact and smiling. Just be friendly and be brave.’

mekosoff@syr.edu

Published on February 22, 2011 at 12:00 pm