Academic Pathways

• FOUNDATIONS (Required courses): Students must successfully complete coursework that demonstrates their proficiency in the foundational knowledge, skills, and methods necessary for their area of study.
  • On average, each pathway requires a student complete 2 full-year (or 4 semester-long) elected courses.
  • Students must receive a grade of B or higher in these courses.
    
• SCHOLARLY CONNECTIONS (Portfolio of intra-curricular academic work outside of Foundations courses): Students must engage in academic work that demonstrates critical and interdisciplinary thinking within their chosen area of focus. Scholarly Connections must be intentional and student-driven, rather than prompted or required by a specific course or assignment.
  • The Humanities 11 Research Paper must be included as one Scholarly Connection, along with 3 additional summative projects from other courses.
  • This academic work must be compiled into a digital portfolio that provides a published reflection of how each component connects to that respective Pathway's essential questions.
    
• EXPERIENCE (Extra-curricular): Students must engage in out-of-the-classroom learning that provides firsthand practical experience in the area of study, beyond required coursework.
  • Collectively, these experiences should address or prompt reflection on all of the Pathway's essential questions.
  • Experiences must include both one leadership component and one professional component. A single experience may satisfy both components, if it meaningfully demonstrates each.
  • All experiences must be documented in the same digital portfolio, along with the student's reflection on each experience.

Designed for students who are committed to pursuing artistic excellence through the development of advanced technical and conceptual skills in the visual arts. 

Grounded in an interdisciplinary understanding of visual art as a form of meaning-making and communication embedded in culture, this pathway emphasizes iteration, critique, and reflection as essential components of artistic growth. With a pre-professional focus, students explore what it means to work as a visual artist by developing the habits, skills, and understanding needed to create, present, and communicate work within artistic and professional contexts.

Essential questions:

How does visual art create meaning? How is visual art used to communicate?
What does it look like to develop your artistic voice?
What does it mean to develop and advance your technical visual art skills?
What does it mean to be a professional within the visual arts?

Building on our commitment to sustainability, this pathway is intended for students who seek to deepen their understanding of the environment through an interdisciplinary study of ecological, social, economic, and human systems. 

Through this pathway, students examine and contribute to environmental work at local, regional, and global levels. They engage with sustainability from scientific and humanities-based perspectives, developing the knowledge and analytical skills to understand how environmental systems function, change, and are shaped by human decisions.

Essential questions:

How do ecological, social, and economic systems depend on and connect to one another?
What scientific principles explain how Earth's environmental systems function and change?
How can science be leveraged to create solutions for climate change and other environmental concerns?
What does a just environmental future look like? How do we critically evaluate and advocate for a just environmental future?

Designed for students who seek to deepen their understanding of global issues through the sustained study of languages, exploring their own and other cultures, experiential learning and travel. 

Students examine how historical, cultural, political, and economic forces shape societies and influence relationships within and across nations, while reflecting on their own perspectives and responsibilities in an interconnected world. Through this interdisciplinary work, students develop the knowledge, dispositions, and skills required to engage thoughtfully across difference, build cross-cultural understanding, and participate meaningfully in local and global communities.

Essential questions:

What does it mean to be a global citizen? How can global citizenship be practiced meaningfully in everyday life through local engagement and responsibility?
How does participating in cultural practices (such as language, food, celebrations, and community traditions) build belonging, understanding, and connection across diverse communities?
How do historical, social, political, and technological systems shape today’s global societies and questions of justice, governance, and collaboration?
How does language reflect and shape cultural values, identity, and communication within and across societies?
How do our identities, values, and lived experiences influence how we understand others and engage in intercultural and cross-cultural relationships?

This pathway is designed for students who seek sustained, rigorous engagement in developing their artistic voice and advancing their craft within the performing art disciplines of either dance, music or theatre. 

Students engage with the performing arts as a form of cultural expression and professional practice, examining how performance creates meaning and participates in broader cultural contexts. Through sustained growth of technical skills and artistic practice, students develop personal agency, resourcefulness, and leadership skills. This pre-professional focus encourages students to explore what it means to work as a performing artist by creating, producing, and sharing work, while gaining exposure to options and opportunities in performing arts careers.

Essential questions:

How will you develop your artistic voice?
What does it mean to develop and advance your craft within performing arts?
How do you engage your identity and culture through your art? How do you position your work in a greater context (historical, social, political, cultural)?
How do you make a career in performing arts? What are the different aspects of a career in performing arts?
How do performing artists exercise agency by creating, producing, and sharing work in ways that require resourcefulness and leadership?

This pathway embodies our commitment to giving students the tools they need to have a positive and lasting impact on the world. 

Students commit to an interdisciplinary investigation of historical and systemic roots of social injustice, inequality, and violence, with the aim of better understanding how to make change in their communities today. They improve their capacity for social, political, and historical analysis, cultivate leadership and collaboration skills, and practice the kind of creative, critical thinking that  is needed to imagine a better and more equitable tomorrow.

Essential questions:

How can we study history to understand the roots of social injustice, the perspectives of the marginalized and oppressed, and the possibilities for change inherent in our world today? 
How can an intersectional lens on identity and power help us to deepen our understanding of social problems and add complexity to our
conception of justice?
What are the strategies that individuals, organizations, and communities are using to challenge historical injustices, make change in their communities, and create a more just future?

Grounded in user-centered design and ethical inquiry, this pathway emphasizes that designing, building, and using  technologies to address real-world challenges requires resourcefulness, empathy, and critical reflection. It extends our commitment to  developing socially responsible, creative problem solvers by offering students a structured way to study and create technology as both a technical system and an expression of human culture. 

Students examine how technologies are designed, how digital and engineered systems work, and how technological choices shape individuals, communities, and societies. Students also consider the role of media, digital footprint, and data literacy, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of technology and its intersection with the liberal arts. Designed to support students who are drawn to logic and computation, as well as those excited by technology's creative possibilities, this pathway invites students to use computational and creative tools to understand and address real-world problems, centering human needs and impact.

Essential questions:

What is technology? How does technology shape our lives, communities, and choices, and how should we respond? 
How can we understand and solve authentic problems in society by leveraging technological methods?
How can we use technology to design solutions that center users and human beings?

Sample Coursework in Foundations

• Climate Action* (10 or 11)
• Literature & the Environment* (12)
• Advanced Biology (12)

* Proposed course under development

Sample Scholarly Connections:

• Visual art final project: Climate Change
• Humanities 11 research project: Indigenous Conceptions of Nature
• Computer science project that focuses on the mining industry, powered by digital tech demands

Sample Experience

• Internship with local organization (e.g., Tilth Alliance)
• Student manager of Northwest School farm + garden
• Participation in the school's Climate Action Team
• Organizing school-wide clothing swap