Carondelet’s unique approach to freshman curriculum allows frosh students to get acclimated to the high school environment, discover new interests and skill sets, and develop some of the critical soft skills they will need in their future educational and professional lives—including collaboration, creative thinking, presenting, and public speaking.
Seven courses
Every freshman will take a full 7-period course load. View all courses below. Some students will take a study skills elective course called “HFCE” which stands for Heart, Faith, Courage, Excellence. Taking this course will postpone either a science or modern language course until their sophomore year but would not impede graduation requirements.
Freshman Courses
- Art/Computer Science: “Frosh Creation: Think, Make, Share”
- English: “English 1”
- Health & Religion: “Frosh Wellness: Mind, Body, Spirit”
- Math: Mastery-based Math
- Modern Language: American Sign Language, French, Italian, Latin, or Spanish
- Science: “Conceptual Physics”
- Social Studies: “World History”
*Some students will take “HFCE,” a study skills elective.
Build Skills
We want the first year to be about skill-building and exploration. In partnerships and discussions with both industry leaders and highly selective colleges, it became clear that collaboration, teaming, and self-advocacy are the skills most needed for the jobs of the future. That’s why our freshman curriculum takes a cross-disciplinary approach to build these skills and launch students on their specialized path for the rest of high school and beyond.
Honors
Honors courses are available to all freshman and are embedded within the present curriculum without needing to test in. Freshman can self-select into Carondelet’s honors programs for math, english, and social studies. This foundational year is critical in providing students a better understanding of themselves as they make choices on more specialized programming like AP and honors courses their sophomore through senior years.