Overview of Grades 9–12

Just as birth to age four was a time of remarkable physical development, ages 14–18 are a time of extraordinary emotional and intellectual development. At SWS high school, we strive to meet teenagers where they are both as human beings and learners—so it’s not just what we teach but how we teach that makes the difference. The following snapshots illustrate our students’ developmental and academic focus during each year.

Ninth Grade: What

Freshmen live within the polarities of black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. Like young scientists gathering diverse data, our ninth-graders practice skills of exact observation. Exploring classes such as Light and Dark Drawing and Comedy and Tragedy, they experience the opposite facets of the academic world. Subjects like algebra, art history, geology, and chemistry also engage our ninth graders in experiments and projects focusing on documenting observed phenomena.

Tenth Grade: How

Growth and maturity are the hallmarks of the tenth grade year. The sophomore curriculum buoys students amid academic and personal transformations. Immersed in Greek history, students focus on movement from myth to philosophy and from monarchy to democracy. At the same time, math and science curricula highlight transformative processes of projective geometry, acids and bases and climatology, and composition classes provide rich opportunities to compare and contrast.

Eleventh Grade: Why

“Who am I?” characterizes the eleventh grader. Intellectual deconstruction takes place as the sense of “knowing” from tenth grade is replaced by a sobering realization: differences of opinion abound and answers may not always be clear. Students study varying points of view, focusing on skills of analysis and abstraction. They explore the “big picture” of astronomy and relationships between stars as well as the minutiae of sub-atomic theory, the periodic table, and cell biology. At the same time, they contemplate the quest for truth with Parsival in Literature and examine realms of morality and their own cultural identity in American History.

Twelfth Grade: Who

By twelfth grade, students can relate to multiple points of view simultaneously to create an integrated picture of the world and their place in it. Courses such as the History of Ideas and Comparative Religions highlight interconnections, while Optics and Astrophysics examine complex systems. The final year is a time to bring everything together, gaining a healthy perspective from which to find their place and purpose in a world that needs them.

View Detailed Curriculum Overview Chart…

Learn More About Our High School Program…