By Dr. Anne Duffy, Science Faculty and Independent Curriculum Facilitator

At Eastside Prep our commitment to an independent curriculum is rooted in the belief that students thrive when they are empowered to take ownership of their learning. As outlined in our academic philosophy, we prioritize inquiry-driven, student- centered experiences that allow learners to design and pursue coursework that reflects their individual passions and goals.

This dedication is exemplified in our Independent Study and Project program, where students engage deeply with self-directed topics while being supported by thoughtful scaffolding, expert guidance, and collaborative peer feedback. Further evidence of our dedication is shown through a change in staffing configuration that began during the last academic year. EPS faculty members Wen Yu Ho, Eric Sieg, and I assist students with their independent efforts in our particular academic area. This dedicated approach allows us to meet the growing needs of the expanding independent curricular program while also accommodating students’ need to have outside content experts in their area of interest.

The following reflection on our recent poster symposium showcases how this approach comes to life and reinforces our mission to think critically, act responsibly, lead compassionately, and innovate wisely.

Looking over the array of tables, each with two students and their posters for their Independent Study or Project, we see the crowds of people engaging with our students in the symposium while feeling the awe of their accomplishments, knowing that the path to this point was unique for each of them.

We streamlined the process to include weekly work logs with check-ins. Students were arranged in cohorts where they presented their topics to each other and provided support and feedback to others. We encouraged the students to find support from content experts for deeper and pointed feedback on their learning. We provided the needed scaffolding as we facilitated the independent learning of each of our cohorts.

The process looked similar for all of these students presenting their posters, and, yet, the pathway was different for each student. The process was developed to streamline our independent curriculum to adjust for the increased interest and numbers of students choosing to add this to their high school experience. However, our true goal as facilitators was to actively facilitate the building of each students’ unique pathway toward their desired learning outcome. We did that by building individual relationships with each student and their topics, through empathetic dialogue in our weekly check-ins and by allowing some flexibility in the pathway to allow for unexpected “bumps in the road,” as well as student creativity in their individual outcomes.

Each of those projects upholds the tenets of our Eastside Prep mission. Through designing their own course, students had to think critically about their goal and the resources that they needed to reach that goal. They had to act responsibly to complete the independent work to reach their own learning outcomes. The students had to innovate wisely in times that they realized that what they planned does not match exactly what they expected. Lastly, the presentation of their work, first to their cohorts and then to the entire school community with the poster sessions showed their ability to lead compassionately.

These poster sessions are not just for the student to showcase their work, but it is one of the pinnacle ways for each participant to exhibit compassionate leadership in our community at EPS. It is for the student community to see what is possible as a potential in their EPS educational experience. It is for the faculty to see their hard work pay off as our independent curriculum students demonstrate their ability to shape an experience to develop knowledge in an area of interest. And it is for the parents to feel pride in their child as they display the budding passions that will be part of the narrative that shapes their career.