A Tradition of Choice
Consider the caliber of academics and extra-curricular activities at your top choices. Are they traditional or nontraditional? Are fine arts offered; and if so, to what extent? What level of sports does the school compete at? Budding Michelangelos might thrive in a more creative, less structured atmosphere, whereas the Harvard-bound might benefit from a more disciplined environment.
Petrowski says, “We like to see students who indicate that they want to come [to Xavier] and be part of this community, participate in activities, be a contributing member—a student who would not be uncomfortable in a traditional environment, with a uniform and with rules and regulations about behavior.”
Tesseract prides itself on taking a less traditional approach to learning by advocating a more “guide on the side” method that focuses on each student as an individual. “These are all areas that we feel differentiate us,” Taplin says. “Our program: yes, it’s a very academic program; yes, it’s a college-prep program, but it’s more of a life-prep program within the context of the 21st-century environment.”
Building its new high school campus to be as “green” as possible, Tesseract also integrates sustainability teachings into the curriculum. “So not only do we live the sustainability within the curriculum, we also live it in our environment,” Taplin says.
Although some of the more traditional college prep schools scored low points on their arts offerings in the past, that is changing. Greg Mastin, a 1996 graduate of Brophy College Preparatory, says, “I graduated with an art degree in college, and I didn’t get to take a single art class while at Brophy. The only one they had at the time I think was at Xavier [the Catholic all-girls school is located next door]. But now, I went over there not too long ago, and they [had] built like two or three big buildings [for art].”
Brophy now requires its students to take 2.5 semesters of art, and the school added a 50,000-sq.-ft. fine arts complex including a theater, music practice rooms and a video production room. Xavier mandates two years of art credit and even offers four-year programs for those interested in dance, theater, painting and drawing. At PCDS and Tesseract, some form of fine arts credit is mandatory all four years.
And don’t forget sports. At larger schools like Brophy, the sports teams compete at a higher division than smaller schools like Valley Lutheran. So if your high schooler desires to play college or professional sports in the future, it may be advisable to choose a school where they can hone their skills at a more competitive level. For the teenager who simply loves to play, but doesn’t have NBA aspirations, a smaller school might provide more ample playing time.
