Programs and Facilities
The college preparatory curriculum includes advanced courses in mathematics and the sciences as well as the opportunity to do honors-level work in all disciplines; in recent years an increasing number of students have elected to do independent study in pursuit of intellectual interests that fall outside the curriculum. Beaver also requires two full years of study in the visual and/or performing arts for graduation, and students must pursue an interscholastic sport or fitness activity each year as part of the afternoon program.
In 2010-11 Beaver introduced NuVu ("new view"), an educational program based on the design studio model. Students are taught within the framework of studio projects rather than traditional subjects. The program focuses on hands-on problem solving, encourages an inventive culture, promotes peer teaching and learning, and cultivates curiosity to explore. NuVu Studio was developed in partnership with PhD students and faculty from MIT, and the program takes place in Cambridge. Beaver students in grades 9-12 may choose to spend a full 11-week trimester in the NuVu program at MIT, in lieu of taking their regular classes at school that term. Each NuVu studio term focuses on a different theme.
Beaver is a leader in the use of emerging technology in the classroom. All students are required to bring laptop computers to school. Teachers have been trained to incorporate applications, such as blogs, social media, and wikis, into the curriculum to expand students' opportunities to create and share content. The school is also a national model for how to integrate social justice and multicultural/global perspectives into its curriculum through its Hiatt Center for Civic Engagement, created in 2006 in memory of Anne Hiatt '47.
The main classroom building, dating from the 1920s, has been continuously upgraded to meet curricular demands, and the science wing renovations to be completed in the late summer of 2011 will provide innovative, state-of-the-art learning spaces and collaboration areas based on the most modern principles of science and technology instruction. The arts program is largely housed in the three-story Visual and Performing Arts Center, opened in 2004.
A new Athletic Center, completed in 2007, consolidates athletics in one space with the addition of a second 24,700 s.f. gymnasium, a fitness and weight training room and additional locker rooms.
Beaver is a part of the Eastern Independent League and fields interscholastic teams in soccer, field hockey, golf, cross country, basketball, fencing, volleyball, wrestling, baseball, softball, tennis, ultimate frisbee, and lacrosse. In winter of 2011-2012, Beaver will begin competing in girls' ice hockey.
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