Designing your own curriculum is all the rage at colleges across the country, and now teenagers here on the Hilltop have the power to do just that. While Hackley offers minors ranging from Creative Writing to Psychology to Photography, there is one minor that encompasses virtually everything else: independent studies. Hackley’s independent studies allow students to pick any topic of interest and study it twice a cycle. The creation of independent studies as a minor has brought infinite educational possibilities to Hackley’s curriculum.

For students like senior Amanda Stern and senior Malcolm Roesser, who completed all of Hackley’s offerings in the Classics department by junior year and now are in an independent study for Greek 2, independent studies provide an opportunity to continue studying topics they are passionate about. Amanda said, “It’s very personal in that you get to choose exactly what you want to do. You are studying things that you are actually interested in and that you choose to study.” Senior Riya Mital, who is doing an independent study about the Middle East, also enjoys the ability to cater the course to her own interests. “[History teacher Melissa Stanek] really lets us make decisions about what we want to study. Mrs. Stanek is great about asking us what parts [of the Middle East] we are interested in and she helps us find materials to learn about the topics,” she said.

Other students love the intimate educational environment independent studies provide and the opportunity to learn about new topics they have not had the chance to learn about in their other classes. “I’m with two teachers and it’s just me, so I have a lot of personalized attention,” said senior Luisa Stalman, who created an independent study about Latin America. “I like that [independent studies are] so flexible,” she continued, “and that you can choose what you want to study and when you want to study it.”