Graham School The

The Graham School does amazing things with their students. My daughter started at The Graham School in 2008 as an isolated, severely depressed, and unfocused girl. She graduated in 2011 a driven, compassionate, and beautiful young woman. The experiential component of the school's learning format lets the students participate in their school and the local community through work, volunteer, and academic sites. The students become fully engaged in the learning process and put in to practice on a daily basis, the critical thinking skills, problem solving, and social awareness they learn at Graham. Their classes, while they may seem non-traditional on the surface, provide the students with a deeper exploration of the subject matter. History is not taught merely from the textbook as the pre-1800 and modern hsitory. It is taught as through courses that provide a more intimate focus on subjects such as native heritage, social reform movements, and the holocaust. Students can take combined focused classes such as a combination of biology and art through medical illustration. The creativity and community focus of their programs is a fantastic opportunity for those student who may not "fit in" with the traditional school evnivronment of rigidity in academics and support of athletics over the arts.The students lear through work, what type of career they may wish to pursue and they are solidly prepared for further academic ventures through the rigouros classwork. My daughter graduated not only with a diploma saying she was academically prepared, but the grades to get her into the university she wanted to attend and a scholarship to pay for. She gradauted with three eyars of solid work and volunteer experience that enabled her to obtain a good job on campus and during the summers while she is in college. She also left with the practical skills such as public speaking, computer, resume writing, and other life skills that so many students are clueless about once they graduate. The Graham School prepaes its students for life, not just graduation.

This doesn't really feel like a school because, well, it's a family. I love it very much. The classes are about what the students want to learn and the teachers want to teach, they really care about what they are teaching. They are more like college, the teachers do not hound you for things you have to get them done on your own. But if you need help you can ask anyone of the teachers and they will help you in every possible way they can. We have a music class that our tech teacher runs. He all of a sudden wanted to learn to play guitar and did, then started a class around music and learning your favorite insturment, even a hermonica. It is very student driven. We have town meeting which is an entire hour set aside where students can get up in front of the entire school and purpose things they'd like to change or just say something that has been on their mind, or even perform in front of our entire school. One of the best things about Thr Graham School is our experiential learning program where we get to PICK a place and every Teusday and Thursday we intern there. Also when you are a senior you have to do walkabout. Walkabout is where you intern somewhere for 30 hours a week, go to a different country, or you can do the PSEO program. The experiential program is in place so we can have real life experience before we are thrown out into the real world and to determine weather the career they might choose, pay for the schooling for, and study long and hard for is really something they want to do with their lives. We have around 230 students and everyone really does know everyones name. This school is amazing and I am really happy I chose to go here.