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Jonathan HellandAs we prepare to welcome our first senior class next fall, we’ve received many questions from students and parents about what grade 12 will look like. The BASIS senior year is unique in several respects, and it’s worth explaining those differences and their logic behind them.
In grades 9-11, the BASIS curriculum is built around making our students into strong candidates when they apply to college. This is why it is designed so every BASIS student (when possible) meets their graduation requirements by the end of 11th grade--so we can present as much evidence of their academic prowess to Universities as possible. But college applications go out in the fall and winter of grade 12, before any G12 grades are finalized. So what purpose does the senior year serve?
Well, first, the work of creating a good college application is not finished when the GPA is finalized. There is a lot of work that needs to be done on the application itself to give students the best possible chance of college acceptance. And, second, 12th grade is when we can shift our focus from helping students get into college to helping them be successful at college.
The BASIS senior year starts at the end of the junior year. Before our G11 students head out to their summer vacations, they will attend the BASIS College Counseling Seminar. This is three weeks of daily classes designed to teach students the basics of the college application process and, especially, how to write college application essays. This seminar and the process of writing application essays will both be topics of later blog posts, but it’s important to understand that we send 11th grade students off prepared to begin work on their applications during their summer vacation.
When students return in the fall they will have a schedule that is different from what they are used to. First, they will have a daily College Counseling class, taught by their counselors. This is a full 50 minutes a day during which they will be working on their college applications with our guidance. The counseling class will be made up of short lectures, one-on-one conferences, and plenty of independent work time, giving our students ample opportunity to craft exemplary essays, activity lists, college lists, and final applications. A college counseling class of this nature is something very few schools offer, and we feel it gives our students a competitive edge.
Much of the most valuable work the college counseling staff does--guiding and strategizing with students on their applications--takes place in grade 12 during the college counseling class.
In addition to our college counseling class, BASIS 12th graders will take Capstone Classes. Capstones are special, advanced Post-AP courses that give teachers and students an opportunity to explore special topics more deeply. AP classes are, by necessity, general in content and built around preparing students for a high stakes exam. This forces teachers to focus on building a broad knowledge base and on rote learning and other “testable” skills. Capstone Classes are designed to fill in the deficiencies left by this system. Teachers will design classes around far narrower and more specialized topics--instead of studying general biology, students in a capstone class might study The Biology of Cancer, instead of “world history” they might study “The Cold War.”
Classes like this mimic the more narrow topics of many college courses and allow for a much deeper understanding of the subject area. They are often also topics of particular interest to the teacher and so will be taught with a little extra passion. Furthermore, because capstone classes aren’t designed around a standardized test, they can be more discussion, inquiry, or project focused than AP classes, providing students with skills and experiences that will serve them well in their future university classes.
The College Counseling and Capstone classes are only 2 trimesters long, however. The third trimester is reserved for students to do a senior project. The senior project is optional, but necessary to graduate with the “High Honors.” The senior project is almost entirely student-directed with the assistance of two advisors/mentors. One advisor is a BASIS faculty member, but the other should be an expert or professional from outside of BASIS (a working scientist or scholar in the field the student wishes to study, for example.)
The senior project is an opportunity for students to get a head-start on the research they will be doing in college, to pursue a strong interest they haven’t had the time to explore, or to simply have fun learning and doing something extraordinary.
Senior projects are done off-campus, and can often involve travel. They can go far beyond the normal limits of classroom study. Former BASIS students worked in hospital ERs, studied marine biology in South Africa, built Rube-Goldberg devices, and coached basketball. The students are responsible for regular blog posts tracking their progress and will finish the year by giving a bilingual presentation at BIPH at a special event celebrating the accomplishments of the senior class.
The senior project will not generally help students get into college--every student will already have been accepted into college before they complete their senior project (though some students might start their projects while on a university's wait-list). But that is potentially a very good thing. Previously in their academic career, everything they’ve done has been a means to an end. The senior project is something they can do just for the joy of doing it.
Students who don’t wish to do a senior project don’t have to. They can take the last trimester of high school off and still graduate with honor (but not high honors) provided they completed all their capstone courses.
In summary, the BASIS senior year is focused on applying to college and preparing for the various challenges students will face when they get there.