Through the generosity of Cate parents, grandparents, alumni, and countless friends, the School has the great privileged to educate some of the brightest young minds of the next generation. Cate is always seeking to provide students with the best possible educational experience, and recently a new intellectual movement has sprung up on the Mesa. Over the past few years Cate has worked to enhanced its program with new curriculum components, a shift to a trimester system, elective offerings in the upper grades that are tailored to in-depth study of subject areas, the transition from Advanced Placement courses to an independent Advanced program, and the Senior Inquiry Project.
Completely self-guided, the Inquiry Project allows seniors to delve into a topic of personal or academic interest while achieving the School’s broader aim of creating a “culture of inquiry” across campus. Peter Arango, English teacher and Inquiry Team member, describes the process of developing these curricular changes as an inquiry project in itself. “The more we thought about options for alternative programs, the more we realized that what we were talking about was this process of inquiry,” he says. “We also realized that inquiry does not belong to any particular class or endeavor. What we really wanted was to create a culture of inquiry.”
Completely self-guided, the Inquiry Project allows seniors to delve into a topic of personal or academic interest while achieving the School’s broader aim of creating a “culture of inquiry” across campus. Peter Arango, English teacher and Inquiry Team member, describes the process of developing these curricular changes as an inquiry project in itself. “The more we thought about options for alternative programs, the more we realized that what we were talking about was this process of inquiry,” he says. “We also realized that inquiry does not belong to any particular class or endeavor. What we really wanted was to create a culture of inquiry.”
The individual projects in this first year vary widely. While Eliza Giles conducted original interviews and research focusing on gay rights in the United States and the implications at Cate, Chris Wilkinson studied the evolution of safety technology in NASCAR vehicles. Meanwhile, Ethan Chan re-created some of the most influential photographs of the 20th century in contemporary terms as a way of exploring the impact of these images on American culture. A relative newcomer to the United States, Ethan was interested in finding a common thread of influence, and used a survey to help determine which images formed the visual zeitgeist of the last century. For Susan Kim, the project made it possible to delve into a topic that has long interested her – dysfunctional societies – but for which she didn’t have an outlet until now. “I think the greatest benefit of the project is the fact that I get to read so many books from so many different time periods,” she says. “It also is a great exercise in attempting to draw connections between different time periods and ways of thinking.”
According to Art Department Chair and Curriculum Committee Chair Patrick Collins, “We envisioned a senior year that would be truly transformational and in which students would become, in [headmaster] Ben Williams’ characterization, ‘architects of their own learning.’ At most schools, teachers worry about ‘senioritis’ and describe the year as being somehow ‘over’ and students ‘done’ long before graduation, and we wanted Cate to be a school where students continue to learn and grow – because they want to – every day.”
Cate School would like to thank each of our generous donors who help us foster this culture of inquiry on the Mesa each and every day!
