Certificate Program
Explore your passion.
In the 2017-2018 academic year, Penn Charter’s Upper School started a Certificate Program for students in 11th and 12 grade. The purpose of certificates is to engage students who are looking to integrate different aspects of the Upper School program around a particular focus and passion in their junior and senior years.
"The certificate programs align students' passion with Quaker values. Our faculty designed the certificate programs to open time and space for deep discovery, thinking, and connectivity to the existing curriculum across many departments." Travis Larrabee, Assistant Head of School
Key Characteristics
Through pursuit of a certificate, students will integrate coursework, projects, activities and a Senior Comprehensive Project (SCP) around a particular theme. For more specifics on requirements, see the Upper School Certificate Handbook.
- Seeking Truth: Students investigate and uncover different perspectives, and reflect upon challenges and conflicts.
- Building Empathy: By listening, being vulnerable and connecting with others, students build empathy and understanding.
- Letting Your Life Speak: Students explore ways to lead, communicate and act on issues of justice and the common good.
Graduation Requirements
There are four main components to all certificate work:
- Course credits (a selected number of courses will be noted in each certificate)
- Three major projects (examples are given for each certificate below)
- 80 activity hours across junior and senior years.
- SCP (Senior Comprehensive Project) that is centered around the certificate theme