need advice: moving to MoCo for high school - programs for subjects other than science/math?

[Anonymous]

Please excuse my ignorance. We're planning to move to MoCo for high school in a few years. We would like to know what specialized programs exist that we could pursue for our DC. Her best subjects are reading/writing/literature as well as drawing. We parents have no artistic talent and don't know what to do with our artist. We've heard good things about a program at Blair HS for language arts, I think, but don't know anything else. Any info and advice would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Our neighbor is in the Blair program (CAP) and really likes it.

[Anonymous]

IB and pre-IB is geared to writing, philosophy and the arts.

[Anonymous]

If you go to the MoCo website and look at the "special programs" you'll see the list for ES, MS and HS. THere are quite a few. Deadline is past. However, at the HS level I believe there are "academies" in which students may focus, and not just on math and science. The websites for the county and the individual schools really have a lot of info, so I'd start there.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that at the highest performing MC schools you can do quite well without a magnet program. It may be less risky than counting on getting in to the magnets since they tend to be quite small and quite competitive. Whitman, Churchill, Wootton, WJ are all great non magnet HS. So is BCC and it also has the benefit of offering a non magnet IB program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that at the highest performing MC schools you can do quite well without a magnet program. It may be less risky than counting on getting in to the magnets since they tend to be quite small and quite competitive. Whitman, Churchill, Wootton, WJ are all great non magnet HS. So is BCC and it also has the benefit of offering a non magnet IB program.

does really WJ belong in that group?

[Anonymous]

I believe the deadline for applying to MoCo magnets for next year may have passed, or it's coming up very quickly. So do check the MoCo website soon.

[Anonymous]

Einstein High School (much maligned on DCUM) has the county art magnet. You need a portfolio to apply. The school also has many art courses for those not in the magnet.

The Communications Arts Program (CAP) at Blair is a good choice for your daughter, but as previous posters said, it's very competitive. I believe you must live within the boundaries for any school in the Downcounty Consortium.
As the PP said, the application deadline has passed for those going into 9th grade next year, but you said you still have a few years.

[Anonymous]

DC is in the Blair CAP program and likes it a lot. There is a lot of work and it gets fairly stressful, but DC seems to like stress. Another thing to consider is that CAP focusses on journalism-type writing instead of creative writing, if that's your kid's thing. It's a neat program where history/social studies and literature are linked. A semester each of photography, theater and journalism is mandatory.