The Ninth Grade Experience
In ninth grade, rigorous high school courses are complemented by travel experiences and deeper community connections through service work. As a result, our student leaders expand their sense of what’s possible, strengthen their intellectual curiosity, and are well-prepared for the experiences that lie ahead of them.
Exceptional Opportunities
Ninth grade is the capstone year of the Foote experience. It affords students a series of exceptional opportunities for academic and personal growth.
High school-level courses include lab-based biology, Comparative Cultures, and a roundtable English class that focuses on literature analysis, personal essays, creative compositions, and poetry.
Students form close bonds as they support each other through a challenging and exciting year, from a retreat on Cape Cod, to the ninth-grade play, to the two-week international service trip (see more on that below), and Poetry Cabaret.
Ninth graders assume leadership roles in every aspect of school life, allowing them to enter high school with greater confidence and academic readiness.
Program Highlight
Eye on Ecology
For more than 25 years, Foote ninth graders have studied the health of New Haven’s West River, analyzing water samples and aquatic life and reporting findings to officials at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Ninth grade at Foote School is a special experience that you cannot have at another school. I have realized that learning is about pushing yourself. Doing it in a great environment is what makes it enjoyable. Ninth grade is a continuation of the environment that you love about Foote. charlie, ninth grader
Experience the World
It is these new — and sometimes frightening — experiences that, when we take the risk, can impact us in the greatest way and create a lasting memory.
Lorenzo, Ninth Grade
Travel Experiences at Foote
More than just tradition, travel is an essential and intentional part of the Foote experience. We continue to expand our international and national travel opportunities because we believe in the experience of learning from the landscape, the natural history of a place, the people who have inhabited it, and the layers of culture within it.
While our travel programs are tied to the curriculum, their reach extends far beyond, as students engage in hands-on environmental activism, make cultural connections, and engage in service work to help others in need. Travel is one of the many opportunities we provide for our students to gain confidence, challenge limitations, and define leadership on their own terms.