Motivated. Responsible. Conscientious. Industrious. Independent. Incisive. Worldly.
These are the traits we look for in our incoming students, and these are the traits we expect to hone and deepen in the three years they spend at Alsion.
The Early College Program is intense and demanding. While students in a regular high school take one school year to master a subject, our students take 16 weeks at the collegiate level. They also have to socialize with classmates older than they are, establish relationships with ever-busy professors and navigate the multi-fangled systems of a community college. Our students are likewise conscious of the opportunities they can exploit: they know they can take more specialized courses than the average high-school student, and they are expected to do so.
Alsion Early College High School, therefore, isn’t for everyone.
It is our belief that students from Alsion Montessori Middle School are best suited for admissions into the Early College Program, a more “traditional” educational setting. This belief has been tried and tested. Thus, we nary accept non-Alsion applicants. The Montessori method of instruction used in our Middle School, coupled with its teachers’ familiarity with the high-school academic regimen, more than aptly prepares its students for the Early College. The Montessori way of apprehending the world is, after all, that of lifelong engagement.
Our students are naturally hungry to learn. They seek out, on their own, new subjects to investigate or advanced classes so their knowledge can be made more profound.
Our students are self-sufficient. Sure, they have their teachers and cohorts to help develop their understanding of a subject but they know relying on themselves is key. Ferreting out supplementary materials, going to instructors’ office hours, accomplishing advance work, managing their time shrewdly—all must stem from their inherent motivation to succeed.
Our students are social. In the Middle School, they’ve learned to value speaking out, being constructively critical and being perceptive communicators of ideas.
Our students perceive a cross-curricula world. They understand all subjects are connected to one another. This prompts them to layer science with history, to overlap math with language, to tie literature with social science.
Our students are diverse. Because they appreciate their own background, they relish the cultures of others. On a daily basis, they are face to face with differences that should not alienate but enrich.
Our students are empowered. They are young individuals who are making the adventure-filled transition to adulthood. As such, they know they are now garnering the knowhow, the conscientiousness, the attitude to be a source of positive change in the world.