Curriculum
Choate's curriculum includes an array of elective and interdisciplinary courses, from astronomy and architecture to printmaking and post-modernism to digital video and development economics. There are about 240 courses in the curriculum, which has requirements in community service and in contemporary global studies. All disciplines have honors courses. There is Advanced Placement (AP) preparation in 25 areas, and 80 percent of students score a 4 or 5 on the AP.
Area specializations include the Arts Concentration Program and a two-year intensive Science Research Program with summer laboratory work at universities in the United States and abroad. The Capstone Program allows talented students to explore an area of the curriculum in depth. Working independently under advisory of a faculty member, students spend a year researching an area of interest and produce a substantial work as the culminating effort of the year of study.
The performing and visual arts programs are supported by the resources of the Paul Mellon Arts Center. The Senior Project Program provides on- or off-campus internships in academic research, visual art, and the performing arts. Other specialized programs include American Studies, creative writing, economics, FBLA, mathematics, philosophy, psychology, religion, debate, and the Fed Challenge. The 2011-12 academic year saw the introduction of an Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies Program (AMES). One-third of Choate students participate in study-abroad programs in China, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The AMES program would add study-abroad in Jordan.
The Kohler Environmental Center, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and built by Shawmut Design and Construction, opened in 2012 and is located on a 268-acre site in the northeast quadrant of the campus. It has been described as "the first teaching, research and residential environmental center in U.S. secondary education." It can house up to 20 students and two faculty members and supports an environmentally focused interdisciplinary academic program.
Choate regularly produces semifinalists and finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search and in the Siemens Competition in science. In economics Choate's Fed Challenge team was the 2009 national champion and has won the New England District Championship in 12 of the past 13 years. In the 2012 American Mathematics Competitions (AMC 12), Choate's team finished first in the nation, with the highest combined score of all 2600 participating schools. Choate's Economic Challenge team has been state champion in 9 of the past 10 years. In 2010, its inaugural year, the Reserve Cup Challenge team won the Connecticut championship and placed second in the New England championship.
The school's chamber orchestra performed at the White House in December 2009 and made concert tours of Europe in 2010 and 2011. The festival and chamber choruses performed at St. Patrick's Day mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in 2011. The Maiyeros, an a cappella group, performed at Westminster Abbey in 2008. In recent years Choate orchestras and choral groups have also toured China and performed at Lincoln Center in New York. The school's student-operated radio station, WWEB, is FCC-licensed and has been broadcasting since 1969.
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“If we focus exclusively on teaching our children to read, write, spell, and count in their first years of life, we turn our homes into extensions of school and turn bringing up a child into an exercise in curriculum development. We should be parents first and teachers of academic skills second.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)