Interdisciplinary & Tri-School Courses

Health & Wellness students develop knowledge and learn essential skills to facilitate decision making for a healthy and fulfilling life. Students engage in a variety of topics related to their physical, intellectual, emotional, and social well-being including substance use and abuse, sleep, stress, adolescent brain development, emotions, body image, peer pressure, physical activity, technology usage, healthy relationships, effective coping, self-care, healthy eating, and boundary setting. Students are encouraged to examine their own lifestyle choices and explore different perspectives as they formulate opinions about the healthy choices they want to make in their own lives. 

The Mercy in Action Internship Program provides juniors and seniors with authentic professional learning experiences that promote leadership, career exploration, and college readiness. This unique program gives young women the opportunity to explore their passions, develop professional skills, and gain meaningful real world experience while working alongside Mercy faculty and staff mentors in departments such as Admissions, Marketing & Communications, Campus Ministry, Athletic Training, Athletics & Student Services, and American Sign Language (ASL).

Students complete meaningful projects, professional readings, reflective assignments, and a culminating research project while building experiences that strengthen college applications, scholarship essays, résumés, and future career opportunities.

Students earn five elective credits (Pass/Fail). Internship applicants must submit an application and résumé, demonstrate good academic standing, and meet any department specific requirements. Placement is based on student qualifications, interests, and the availability of approved internship opportunities.

AP Research, the second course in the AP Capstone experience, allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, issue, or idea of individual interest. Students design, plan, and implement a yearlong investigation to address a research question. Through this inquiry, they further the skills they acquired in the AP Seminar course by learning research methodology, employing ethical research practices, and accessing, analyzing, and synthesizing information. Students reflect on their skill development, document their processes, and curate the artifacts of their scholarly work through a process and reflection portfolio. The course culminates in an academic paper of approximately 4,000–5,000 words (accompanied by a performance, exhibit, or product where applicable) and a presentation with an oral defense.

Students are encouraged to lean into leadership by exploring various topics such as qualities of a strong vs. weak leader, intent vs impact, leadership styles, mission-based leadership, and more. Students recognize the role they play every day as a leader and the values that are essential to rooting them in their leadership style. 

A Tri-School performance course offered for music students with some experience in ensemble playing and at least intermediate playing ability on one or more instruments. Members of the Advanced Band form the nucleus of the Symphonic Band and Pep Band. Students must provide their own instruments (some exceptions). Performances (including football and basketball games, concerts, etc.) are mandatory.

This advanced course focuses on each student’s individual artistic growth as both an actor/performer and a director designer by alternating curriculum year to year.

•Example of year one: In the first semester, students perform in depth scene studies that concentrate on 21st Century theater and classical Western Theatre (Shakespeare, Marlowe, Goethe, etc). Students learn how to integrate elements of theatrical design (lighting, costume, scenery) with staging and theme to create artistically intriguing performances. In the second semester, they learn how to approach a text from a production point of view, culminating in a public evening performance of a student directed, produced, and designed one-act play. Students will watch and critique plays outside of class once a semester.

•Example of year two: Scenes in the first semester focus on World Theater (Non-Western) and American Musical Theatre with the aid of a live accompanist of recorded tracks. Students focus on developing audition skills for both plays and musicals. In the second semester, they learn how to approach a text from a production point of view, culminating in a public evening performance of a student directed, produced, and designed one-act play. Students watch and critique plays outside of class once a semester. 

AP Psychology introduces students to the study of human behavior and mental processes at a college-level rigor and pace. Students are exposed to the history and subfields of psychology, the brain’s structures and functions, altered states of consciousness, psychological testing, and psychological disorders. Students analyze the biopsychosocial approach to psychology in all human interactions and decisions. Emphasis is placed on the ethics and statistical methods psychologists use in their science and practice as well as on famous psychological experiments that shaped the field of psychology. This class involves an additional workload and extended content for the accelerated student.

This course provides students an opportunity to apply their knowledge of Design Thinking to a yearlong project that focuses on community and/or service and is centered on a topic that the student is personally interested or passionate about - such as recycling, cancer awareness, or teaching digital citizenship skills to young children. Students are paired up with both an on-campus mentor as well an expert mentor in the project field to support them in the project. Students are responsible for creating a timeline for their project, meeting with both mentors regularly (which may be outside of the regular school day), and executing the project. Students present their final project at the end of the year to a panel of teachers, mentors, students, and/or parents.