Program Elements

High school students, under the mentorship of teachers and administrators, design projects that include internships with local community agency members or business people, intensive research, or cultural, artistic, performance-based projects.

During the school day, evenings and weekends, students devote significant time to work in their internships, research their topics, maintain written daily journals, discuss their topics with one another and meet with their mentors to explore and reflect upon project issues. Upon completion of the project, students submit their daily journals for evaluation and give oral presentations before a panel of students, teachers and community members.

The topics that can be explored in school-based experiential learning programs are innumerable because of the individualized nature of the projects. However, because of the focus on individual development of students and their project topics, design of a school's experiential program becomes critical. Opportunities must be built-in for shared reflection, mutual support, and community-building. Through group interaction, students discover skills, strengths and talents in each other not seen before.

WISE Services, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization staffed by retired teacher-practitioners, assists schools in developing a comprehensive academic program tailored to local needs.