Is this for you?

This opportunity will be available to a cohort of students who are committed to challenging themselves and taking educational risks, are interested in learning in a collaborative environment, and looking to make increased connections between their classes 

Students who sign up for this program should be:

• Willing to learn through collaborative experiences

• Intellectually curious

• Open to, enjoy, or prefer inquiry and project-based learning

• Excited to make connections across school subjects

• Looking to participate in their community and school through their classes

• Productive during unstructured time and able to complete work independently

• Open-minded to other people’s perspectives and ideas

9th Grade Interdisciplinary Program (9IP)

9IP has now been running for 5 years. Here is a website with some more program highlights and information about dates/times of information sessions and student panels.

About the Program:

The 9th Grade Interdisciplinary Program takes your classes in Biology, English, Math 9, and History and finds ways to connect them. The classes are regular individual classes of each subject, all at the honors level. The teachers work together to coordinate the curriculum and assessments with multiple goals: 

1) to help with workload management and create a smaller community within the school, 

2) to connect and apply the learning during one class with the learning of other classes, 

3) to have multi-disciplinary projects and project based learning within the courses, and 

4) to focus on developing interdisciplinary skills (collaboration, community connections, etc)

If you sign up for 9IP you must be in the program for all 4 classes. 

The 9IP program is NOT an alternative program nor a place for students who struggle or don’t do school. The program IS another way to approach and apply day to day learning. Much of the time it feels like any other class. The classes themselves meet separately and cover the same content as traditional classes. What changes is how the content is then applied to and connected to other courses as well as an increased focus on 21st century skills. This happens in multiple ways: sometimes the day-to-day content is connected to other classes, sometimes projects & activities span across the classes. Classes are at times more group based, project-based, and exploratory. 

Who should consider the program:  Below are skills and traits that make students successful both in class and beyond. Those that are bolded are ones that if you are strong at you will likely do well in a 9IP class AND are skills that are focused on and developed through 9IP.

• Accountable 

• Adaptable -- open to new experiences

• Collaborative -- willing to work with others 

• Curious -- inquisitive; seeking to make connections between their learning

• Hard working

• Interdisciplinary -- skills of presentations, communication, community engagement, creativity 

• Invested 

• Respectful

• Responsible

Leveling Considerations: Because the program is at the honors level  - It is a great option if you are in all honors classes, in mostly honors classes and 1-2 college prep courses but willing to stretch yourself in those subjects, or if you would be in mostly honors plus 1-2 accelerated and interested in participating in a more collaborative environment. Do this program to challenge yourself in a different way (through applying the learning, transferring the skills, development of interdisciplinary skills, and project-based focus instead of a deeper dive in that content area). 

How to sign up: Parents must request for their child to be entered into the program by submitting this form by Friday March 13, 2026. After course inputs, the school will follow up with all families who are signed for 9IP to ensure placement for all classes is accurate.