Recruitment is currently underway for the Wellesley High School Evolutions program, an interdisciplinary and collaborative program open to juniors and seniors in which teachers and students make connections across courses in Art, English, Science, and Social Studies. Math is not currently under the Evolutions program umbrella, but students do, of course, take math. They simply register for math department courses in the same way as the rest of the school population.

The idea of the interdisciplinary program is to offer students the opportunity to engage in project-based learning that is not confined to the typical bell schedule, reaching students who are excited by the possibility of exploring school in a new way and who want to have more ownership over their learning.

Student interested in Evolutions are encouraged to take a brief survey.

There will be two after school info sessions for students, as well as an evening meeting for families. As course selection time approaches in early March, there will be more information about how to register.

Student info sessions:
Tuesday, February 7, 2:30 – 3:30, WHS Room 301
Tuesday, February 14, 2:30 – 3:30, WHS Room 301

Family info session:
Tuesday, February 28, 6:30pm, WHS auditorium

Take a look at the Evolutions Alumni Video to see how a couple of graduates are doing. Jack Madden, a Northeastern University student, had this to say about how going through Evolutions helped him make the jump not only into college, but all the way across the pond to London, where he spent his first semester: “…everything that was scary and unknown just stopped being scary and unknown and became a new challenge.”

Tiger Mar, who is taking a gap year to serve as a City Year Boston Americorp member, says that Evolutions is “interesting, it’s different, and it’s engaging.” He in particular was influenced by the map project, in which students learned about urban planning by redesigning the Town of Wellesley.

Now those are some documents we’d love to get our hands on.

Here are some pics of the Evolutions Midyear Expo, a time when the students share their work with family, friends, and the community:

Caroline Green says her project, The Psychology of Distance Running, “…takes the reader through the journey of becoming mentally tough.” She also interviewed track athletes on their experiences with injuries.

Alexander Tang, whose project was based around the Japanese Battleship Yamato says, “I researched many aspects of the ship,” knowledge that he applied to building a model ship.

Allison MacDougall’s project, “The History of Surgery,” showed her study of a practice once left to barbers. We chatted about Florence Nightingale, the relationship between germs and disease, and the horrors of anesthesia-free surgery.

Some other interesting projects on hand: “The Creation and Evolution of Logos”, by Taryn Drigo; “Analog Sound Machines,” by Aidan Sullivan; “Sustainability of Fishing in New England,” by Kuba Zalesky; and one with the catchy (and disturbing) title, “Serial Killers: Can You Crack the Case?” by Andrew Hayden (he says I can).