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Walpole students report internships, AP government and expanded civics projects; social-studies department outlines curriculum work
Summary
Students and teachers reported new internship opportunities, implementation of MyCAP career planning, expanded AP government offerings and ongoing curriculum and differentiation work in social studies across Walpole Middle and High schools.
Walpole High School students and the district’s social-studies staff described a range of classroom and extracurricular learning initiatives during the Feb. 6 school committee meeting, including a new Mass General Brigham internship, MyCAP career planning seminars, expanded Advanced Placement offerings and coordinated civic-engagement projects.
Student reporter Grace Qualter told the committee that Mass General Brigham has announced a free internship program for juniors and seniors aged 16 or older that will introduce participants to pathology and laboratory medicine; the internship requires an application and will take place during vacation and summer weeks. She also said Walpole High started MyCAP (My Career and Academic Plan) seminars for sophomores and juniors to guide postsecondary planning, a Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education initiative.
At the middle-school level, Jody O’Rourke, the grades-6–8 humanities coordinator, said teachers are aligning literacy and content work, using technology in classrooms, revising common assessments and pairing social studies and ELA teams for cross-curricular planning. O’Rourke described projects such as shields and skits for Grade 6 (Hammurabi) and revised docent presentations and museum-aligned work for Grade 7.
Mike Donahue, social-studies department chair at Walpole High, said the department is holding professional development on differentiation and is conducting a curriculum review. Donahue reported strong AP exam results in U.S. history, European history and AP psychology (averages “comfortably over 4”) and noted AP U.S. Government was added this year after curriculum development and teacher training. He also described ongoing civic-engagement projects at eighth and tenth grades on topics including youth vaping, transportation access, food insecurity and local environmental concerns.
Three AP government students—Madison Gray, Nadia and Dylan—told the committee that the class uses current events, exit polling and simulations to examine political ideology, voting behavior and party systems. Committee members praised the students’ presentation and encouraged continued civic engagement.
Teachers and staff said they will continue cross-grade collaboration—bringing eighth- and tenth-grade teachers together to align the Civic Engagement Project—and will use diagnostic data (IXL) to inform instruction. Committee members asked questions about classroom activities and praised student presentation skills and the department’s focus on differentiation.
No votes were taken on curricular changes; the discussion was presented as a status update and planning item for the district’s strategic plan.
