Top 4 US boarding schools nurturing the next globalised generation

A holistic international curriculum. A robust community of international students. A vigorous set of extracurricular activities. A diverse student body. These are all reasons why boarding schools are renowned and are a fantastic stepping stone into the future you envisioned for your child.

In a globalised economy, schools recognise and emphasise these aspects because of their proven benefits. An education of such quality will lay a foundation to build and nurture the younger generation of today into becoming well-grounded, responsible and dynamic adults that are ready to face the world.

If a boarding school with these offerings is what you want for your child to become part of a globalised generation, here are four schools to look at: 

Source: Culver Academies

Culver Academies

Culver Academies provides a robust, whole-person education for students between grades nine and 12. Founded in 1894, the co-educational boarding school sits on 1,800 acres of land by Lake Maxinkuckee in Northern Indiana. As they learn from a diverse body of 830 students representing 40 US states and 24 countries, students are treated to views of rolling green hills, pristine woodlands and the glistening lake every day.

The beautiful scenery doesn’t distract from Culver’s intensive focus on its curriculum. Students take on three or four subjects in a term, allowing deep learning and broad exploration of topics. Subjects are varied — 185 courses, 49 art courses and 26 advanced placement (AP) classes and a dedicated entrepreneurship program are offered. A seven-point academic support system ensures students have academic advising, peer coaches, block scheduling, tutorials, college advising, the writing center, and the mentor/mentee program — all they need to become independent, critical thinkers who are unafraid to work together to achieve a solution.

What further sets Culver apart is its Character, Citizenship, and Leadership education. The most comprehensive among US secondary schools, it is unique in how it fuses academic rigour with its student-life structure. After students explore answers to the 21st century’s most complex problems in classrooms, they practice leadership concepts among their peers through two distinct systems: military-based for the boys and prefect-based for the girls. These “leadership laboratories” allow students to develop real-world organizational and management skills at a young age. In addition, students test their mettle through athletic programmes that hone fellowship and sportsmanship on the field, the ice, the court and the track.

The result? Successful graduates. Alumni include business luminaries, public servants, professional and Olympic athletes, and award-winning artists, among others. To learn more about one of the largest boarding schools in the United States that provides the best whole-person education in the world watch this video or click here.

Source: Delphian School (Facebook)

Delphian School

Located on a hilltop campus 50 miles south of Portland, Oregon — with 720 acres of rolling hills, meadows, forest and farmlands — the Delphian School is more than an independent, co-educational international, day and boarding school. It is a school for the curious, compassionate and driven — the ideal set-up to prepare students for a new world.

The Delphian pedagogy does not run on a year-by-year grade-level basis. Instead, a student’s proficiency matters more than how long or short they spend on a class. Delphian is bold in taking the alternative to conventional teaching — here, students work towards achieving graduation requirements, progressing through their materials at their optimum pace.

The goal is to provide a well-rounded education that focuses on independent learning and that results in resilient future leaders. “Delphian doesn’t just teach students how to get a good grade to get into a good college,” says student Gemma. “It teaches them how to set themselves up for a whole life of learning.”

As the school turns 45 this year, its pioneering approach has only strengthened and refined. The Delphi Programme starts with core academic subjects such as literature, math, science, languages, history and the arts. It then expands to real-life subjects such as communication, ethics, integrity, leadership, logic and human rights.

A broad and distinctive co-curricular programme supports its holistic aims. Students can explore Music, Fine Art, Theatre, and Digital Art and Film Production. To learn more about how Delphian empowers young adults to bring positive change in the world through reason, creativity and integrity, schedule a visit here.

Source: United World College USA (Facebook)

United World College USA (UWC-USA)

Few schools offer an education that unites people, nations and cultures the way UWC-USA does. Here, over 200 students from more than 90 countries live, study and adventure together in a change-making community that aims to make a difference in the world.

Such impact is thanks to the school’s Constructive Engagement of Conflict programme, designed to give students the tools to work across cultures, languages, and ethnicities to build teams and partnerships desperately needed to solve the world’s most challenging problems. Each year, students contribute over 17,000 volunteer hours to community service, pushing them to build peacemaking skills, conflict resolution, goal-setting and collaboration.

Located on the edge of the Pecos Wilderness, UWC-USA provides the ideal setting for students to learn how to lead in the outdoors and build a strong sense of stewardship for the natural world through the Wilderness Programme. They also learn sustainable agriculture and contribute to the community, as seen in their activities, clubs and service opportunities.

Pair the school’s values-based social engagement with rigorous IB academics, and students here emerge with a stronger sense of self and all they need to lead a meaningful life. Their IB credentials are not only accepted at more than 600 universities and colleges in nearly 50 countries; every year, many impress admissions officers at Ivy League and other highly selective universities with their intellectual curiosity, solid academic fundamentals, and capacity for living in a diverse environment too.

Graduate Andrea Parry can confirm this: “This is the education I have been seeking my entire life. The open-mindedness to diverse perspectives, critical thinking, and personal challenges are perhaps the key qualities underlying the mission of the UWC movement.” Click here to learn more about how students at UWC-USA are working to become agents for change.

Source: Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart (Facebook)

Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart

Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart is a private girls school based on Roman Catholic values situated on a spacious and picturesque 41-acre campus in Lake Forest, Illinois. It serves girls from grades nine through 12, and has won the coveted award of being the #1 all-girls and catholic school in Illinois, and is listed as a National Blue Ribbon School. 

The success behind the awards and accolades that Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart has received can be attributed to the four-level system that the school incorporates. They include Advanced Placement, Honours, College Prep 1 and College Prep 2 classes. Placement within any of the classes is based on the students’ demonstrated skill development and intellectual maturity. 

The carefully-designed level system bears fruitful results for its graduates. For the class of 2017, 32% of graduates were named Illinois State Scholars.  

The high academic success rate among Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart  graduates is testament to the resourceful college counselling support that the school provides. Students undergo sessions with college counsellors to help make informed choices regarding their post-high school plans. These sessions include individual meetings, college skills classes, information sessions and workshops. 

Boarders gain more here. They live in a nurturing community that they can truly call “home,” form invaluable friendships, learn to be independent, co-exist with different personalities and undertake new responsibilities in group living — all of which set them for life beyond their high school years.

*Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International