Independent Study

hrough Emma Willard’s Practicum program, there’s plenty of room for you to pursue your passions—and get course credit for the experience. Shadow a surgeon. Build houses for Habitat for Humanity. Learn Japanese from your classmate. Develop new perspectives, and put them to use. Our formal independent study program is so popular that four out of five students participate before graduating. You get a chance to test a possible career interest, expand on the readings of a favorite class, or explore something out of the ordinary. As part of Practicum you can take advantage of Emma Willard’s membership in the Network of Complementary Schools, opening up possible learning experiences throughout North America: environmental law in Oregon, Navajo cultural studies on an Arizona reservation, space camp in Alabama.

 

Recent examples of Practicum projects: American Sign Language; radio station DJ; N.Y. State Assembly intern; public school tutor; NASA space camp; Quaker studies; synchronized swimming; Tae Kwon Do; differential equations at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; horseback riding; orthopedic surgery intern; criminal justice course; literacy volunteer; ice hockey; County Environmental Council.