Seniors: A New Start
SENIORS: ENDING AND BEGINNING AGAIN
Students who graduate from Stevenson not only have a solid educational foundation, but also a stronger awareness and acceptance of themselves. They have experienced real achievement. With renewed competence, they are now able to make serious commitments without fear that they will be surrendering to others or imprisoning themselves. They are liberated for action.
A number of seniors each year earn the opportunity to do advanced work in areas of special interest through taking courses at local colleges. Seniors, as well as other students who have shown readiness for outside experience, may be offered carefully selected and closely supervised placements in social service agencies, commercial or industrial establishments, or independent ventures related to their own interests. Credit may be earned for work accomplished in these settings. The importance of such structured external learning can be profound. Students learn that they can be productive and valued in the world outside of Stevenson.
An important part of preparing seniors for college is to help them review their work, objectively consider their skills, and assess their ability to hand the academic, social and emotional demands of college. Beyond passing examinations and accumulating credits in required subjects, students at Stevenson demonstrate their readiness to graduate and move on to college. Seniors present a portfolio of selected works that demonstrates skills and in depth knowledge to a committee of faculty, peers, and sometimes, parents. This portfolio also includes a reflective, autobiographical essay in which seniors consider their progress as students, family members, and young adults. They evaluate themselves in light of college expectations, identifying strengths they can rely on and areas that may still need attention.
With close and careful guidance from college placement experts, seniors undertake extensive exploration into college options and career prospects. Stevenson provides support and encouragement to seniors throughout the entire college application process. From mid-year on, posters heralding seniors' acceptance to college are prominently displaced and applauded by the community.
Stevenson students are proud of their senior schoolmates' accomplishments. They recognize familiar difficulties that have been overcome. Seniors are now prepared to move on, having begun to realize the potential that was always there. Their schoolmates gain confidence from this evidence of success.