Signature
Programs

Renaissance School

Renaissance School offers unique, all-school programs. These learning opportunities are beloved traditions among students and faculty, and the embodiment of our core value of lifelong learning.

Portfolio Season - Demonstrating Subject Mastery to a Real Audience

Renaissance School offers opportunities throughout the year for students to share their work in our gallery, in student publications, at our daily Assembly, and other venues. Our Portfolio Season during the last seven weeks of the academic year celebrates all student work, across disciplines. A showcase is available at the student-curated website RenaissanceSchool.online.

Ninth Week - Experiential, Outdoor Learning Every Semester

Called “Ninth Week” because it originally occurred during the ninth week of the semester, aach semester the entire school takes a week-long trip off campus that integrates real-world experiences with the classroom curriculum. Typically, Ninth Week trips in the fall take place in Virginia and go farther afield in the spring. Past Ninth Week destinations have included New York / Boston / Charleston / Louisville / Canada / France / Outer Banks / DC / Cass, WV / Mountain Lake / Chesapeake Bay / Montebello / Harper’s Ferry. This school newsletter contains an in-depth overview of our week in Pittsburgh in March of 2019.

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Arts Practicum - Weekly Creative, Hands-On Workshops

From changing a tire to bystander intervention, from nutrition and sleep to healthy relationships, there are many topics to discuss that fall outside of a typical academic curriculum. Arts Practicum is our weekly opportunity as a school community to workshop life skills, health & wellness, and creative pursuits with community partners like LightHouse, IX, and the MRC.

Sixth Day - Communal, Collaborative Projects

Approximately once per quarter we practice all-school remote learning with guest speakers, group research, and collaborative projects. These have included guided, virtual visits to the Guggenheim, Reina Sofia, and Louvre; explorations ranging from Thai street markets to Ghanaian slave castles and research regarding the Middle Passage; and cultural videos introducing communities ranging from the Maori in Aotearoa to Shtetls in Eastern Europe. We draw on faculty passions outside of their regular curriculum, and invite guest speakers from around the world.

Senior Thesis - The Capstone of a Renaissance School Education

All Renaissance School students complete a two-year course of Independent Study on topics of their choice, culminating in a 20+ page academic paper, a presentation to the school, and formal thesis defense before the faculty. While the related projects and original research have covered subjects as varied as the conservation of a keystone endangered species to offering an EMT training workshop on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing patients, the core skills developed in research, academic writing, and public speaking are central components of our college prep approach. Students feel an enormous sense of accomplishment at its conclusion. Many have commented that “this was the best thing they ever did in school!”