Freshman Academy

  • For students, College & Career Academies begin with a one-half credit seminar course for freshmen at Glendale and Hillcrest High School. Beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, freshmen were put into smaller learning communities, helping to ease the transition to high school.

     
Freshman Academy at Glendale
Hillcrest Freshman Academy

Dynamic teacher-student relationships

  • Glendale students at Freshman Academy event

     

    Building relationships between students and staff is the foundation for the freshman academy model at Glendale High School. For American Studies English teacher Claire Spence, the academy provides a structure for her to better support her students, she says.

Small learning communities

  • Hillcrest students and teacher at Freshman Academy event

     

    “My hope is that every kid feels like that they are known on a very personal basis by all their teachers and the other students on their team,” said Michael Brinkmeyer, freshman seminar teacher and academy team leader for the Blue team at Hillcrest. “We want school to feel like family, and the freshman academy is just a structure to support building those relationships.”