Global Studies Program at McQueen Opens Doors for Students
Reno, NV (March 23, 2011) - Four Washoe County School District administrators and teachers went to China in 2010 taking their knowledge of the American Advanced Placement program with them. They returned with opened eyes and a breadth of strategies and ideas to help local students on a more global level. Now they are turning those conversations from the AP conference in Beijing to a program that raises the level of rigor among students and will produce students who think with an international mindset.
The Global Studies Program, a four-year advanced track that helps students learn two languages and heavily emphasizes the AP curriculum, is enrolling students from McQueen's feeder middle schools, Billinghurst and Clayton, from March 21 to 25.
"We felt it was really important that we come back with a product from that China experience," McQueen's World Language Department Leader Chris Case said.
In the Global Studies Program, students are required to have already taken one world language, either Spanish or French, at the middle school level. During their freshman year, students enroll in the second year of that language while also taking another language. The language they began studying in middle school would culminate in an AP course in their junior year and they would reach the AP level of second language they enrolled in while a freshman by the time the student becomes a senior.
Case said he would like to enhance the students' global experience by offering a true foreign exchange opportunity where the McQueen student would spend two weeks studying one of their languages in the country in which it's spoken and having one of that country's students stay with the McQueen student's family.
Other AP courses students would take in this program include geography, environmental science, government, economics/comparative government and statistics. The student can choose the remainder of their courses.
To enroll in GSP, students must submit an application which can be obtained from a high school counselor during registration. It is recommended that middle school students have a cumulative grade point average
of 3.0 and already have taken a world language as a seventh or eighth grader. Students are encouraged to take health or computers during the summer between their eighth grade and freshman year and to earn physical education waivers by participating on a sports team. If they enroll in the P.E. Options program through WCSD Supplemental Credit, they can be considered for enrollment in seven classes to fulfill all requirements of GSP.
McQueen geography teacher Julie Wakefield, who also has taught Spanish, said this curriculum will better prepare students with a deeper understanding of and appreciation for global relationships, whether in business, law or culture.
"These students are going to be the true players in the global world," Wakefield said. "We have to have an understanding of the world and, as citizens, we are so intertwined and interdependent."
The Global Studies Program is open to students from Billinghurst and Clayton middle schools who are zoned for McQueen. If you are not zoned for Billinghurst and Clayton or are interested in more information please contact Chris Case ccase@washoe.k12.nv.us or Leslie Hermann lhermann@washoe.k12.nv.us .
