The Ninth Grade Initiative is designed to provide students who are new to high school and to VES the support and encouragement needed to begin their years here with academic and social success. Throughout the course of the ninth grade experience, students learn time management, organization, and study skills essential for success in a rigorous college prep program. Each freshman is assigned a faculty advisor who becomes both mentor and guide. Ninth grade teachers meet regularly to discuss their advisees, and to communicate any problems or successes students are having. Advisors stay in close contact with parents.
To help create community and build relationships, ninth grade teachers work with each other and with students to plan activities and learning projects. It may be a pool party or a trip to a college for a play. It may be an academic project involving collaborative planning which teaches students how to work as a member of a team. We use all available opportunities for getting our ninth graders together and encouraging them to interact, know each other, and accept each other.
A particular focus of the ninth grade initiative is global awareness. Understanding and acceptance of other cultures is critical to the foundation for learning in today’s global world. The texts chosen for ninth grade English are intentionally multi-cultural, giving students a chance to encounter and discuss worlds outside their own. In addition, the freshman class participates through the National Association of Independent Schools in a global service learning project. VES ninth graders pair with students in another country to research a particular global issue, then work together to find and implement solutions.
With the mentoring and nurturing of a talented, caring faculty, our freshmen experience a first year in high school that is productive, fun, and exciting. Lasting friendships are made, bonds with teachers are formed, new interests are discovered, and leadership potentials are realized. This is a year when students not only get to know each other, but in many ways, get to know themselves.