Sandia Prep - Curriculum Guide: 2016-2017

THE SANDIA PREP PROGRAM
Open the doors to our classrooms and you will find lively discussion and debate about
books and ideas, students working together to solve problems and interpret lab data,
presentations on research projects, building with 3-D printers or dismantling machines in
the S.P.A.C.E., painting, sculpting, singing, and acting. We know our students learn best
when they are engaged so our teaching is geared toward active learning, critical thinking,
and collaboration. Our courses are challenging and our expectations high, and we are
passionate about seeing all of our students succeed.
The Sandia Prep curriculum is designed to prepare our students with a first-rate academic
foundation, one that is skill solid and knowledge rich. But our classes also are designed to
give our students wings, to encourage them to discover an intellectual passion, and soar.
Every department at Sandia Prep offers advanced classes, as well as the chance to take
multiple classes in the same discipline in one year. In Upper School Science, for example,
students may choose to take Advanced Physics along with Planetary Astronomy. In Math,
Calculus 2 might be paired with Data Analysis, and in History, Intercultural Communication
with Contemporary American History through Film.
SANDIA PREP FACULTY
The Prep faculty is varied, experienced, and talented, with rich interests and backgrounds.
More than 50% of our faculty hold advanced degrees and over 63% have been at Prep for
ten years or more. Among this group are accomplished individuals who have worked for the
Associated Press, engineering firms, and museums. Some have owned their own business,
practiced law, served in the military or as first responders. The Prep faculty boasts several
published authors, award-winning musicians, professional performers, and celebrated artists.
Our faculty has lived, studied, and worked in all regions of the United States, from East Coast
to West Coast, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, England, France, Germany,
Ghana, the Haute Savoie, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Nepal, Poland, Puerto
Rico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
Our teachers feel passionately about giving our students a global awareness. They have taken
students on trips to the border fence at Juarez, Mexico, on humanitarian service trips to the
Dominican Republic and Haiti, Guatemala, Oaxaca, Bhutan, and post-Katrina affected areas.
They also lead educational trips to Cuba, China, Japan, Butan, France, Spain, Central America,
New York, and Washington, DC.
A Sandia Prep education positions our students well for admission to college. Each year, one
hundred percent of our seniors are accepted into a four-year college. Most importantly, Prep
graduates are well-prepared for the challenges of college work. We know this because we
ask. Our alumni surveys, as well as the colleges they attend, tell us our students have the
skills, the knowledge, the social skills, and the discipline to succeed at the collegiate level.
When a professor assigns a critical essay or a research paper, Prep students know exactly
what to do. They write sophisticated lab reports easily and ace College Calculus.
Several of our students are headed to medical school. Another has just discovered through
her work in Mock Trial that she wants to become a lawyer. One of our students is interested
in organic farming. We have aspiring nuclear physicists, politicians, and inventors. We take
very seriously our responsibility to teach and prepare each student for college and the world.
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