Poolesville Global Ecology House
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Anonymous
two+ hours a day on a school bus - no thanks |
Anonymous
| It seems like such a great program! Agree that the Blair (or PV) science/math magnet is for a very particular type of student. But my 8th grader is just as good at all that, but more into the natural world. Not so theoretical. Also super passionate about the environment. So I was thinking the Global Ecology would be a better fit... (assuming they get in - aware that it's not a gimme) |
Anonymous
Most Global kids are very passionate about the environment so your kid would fit right in. Do they like to get dirty outdoors? Many field trips involve being up to your chest in a stream. If they don’t like bugs, they should run away from this program now. They also need to be comfortable with missing class and making up work. That dynamic stresses out some kids, so again, an indication of fit or not. It is truly a commitment to make the commute. But it’s a great community and a unique experience. My kids play sports, too, so it’s a long day, but they are very happy. |
Anonymous
| My older one in Global hated the outdoors before she started. She had seasonal allergies. She went for the peer group - and before I knew it she was fishing in freezing water and loving it. Id recommend it to any smart kid looking for an adventure or even a shy child. Mt older one was not particularly environmentally conscious but Global changed her. |
Anonymous
| My daughter thinks about joining this program, and she's convinced she's going to enjoy it. But I'm still not 100% sure if I'm aware of what this program consists of. I know that there's something about environmental issues, but she could easily join just some eco-project like myimpactpower and consider going somewhere else. Well, of course, I'll let her go whenever she wants since it's her life, but I'm just curious what could interest her so much? I don't think she's all into the greenpeace thing. |
Anonymous
It’s the peer group and the field trips. DC is spending today at the Calleva ropes course for physics. They will be discussing principles of force, mass, acceleration, angles, etc. while experiencing them. Yes, you could learn in through a textbook in the classroom. The idea is that an experiential component has added benefits. They went to the Buddhist temple last month, which they connected to the AP world history curriculum. |
Anonymous
If this is your world view, then please consider the program 
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Anonymous
It is! The vibe sounds amazing, and my kid would absolutely love the program. Sciencey but not in the theoretical abstract way his sibling is. A naturalist at heart. Passionate about sustainability. I am really bummed it's so far away from us (down county). |
Anonymous
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Global is a great program. I truly feel that it is the most unique program in the county - for the curriculum as well as instruction. This is the program for very bright students who want a balanced life (rather than the true genius level geeks), so in that sense it is easier than SMCS/SMACS/RMIB, and is known as the happiest magnet. It is also a good blend of science and humanities courses
We are in Upcounty and my kids were really interested in STEM so did not choose global. It is a long day and the bus ride is very long for us. Our solution has been to drive them to and from school on way to our work and carpooling. The program is really good and these kids really bond with each other like college students do with their undergrad dorm mates. The entire student body of PHS is really a bunch of supportive kids and it is not a pressure cooker environment because the kids and parents are not jerks. One word of caution. There are a lot of field trips so you will have to invest in outdoors gear of good quality because these kids are out come rain, snow, hail or hot weather. |
Anonymous
| My kid attended from Olney area. Commute, undoubtfully, was the most difficult aspect of attending the program. The program itself is really a wonderful program - good mix of rigor and outdoor activities (kinda like not too heavy or not too light, IMHO). I highly recommend it. |
Anonymous
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Went to the online info session last week and this sounds like an amazing program. Much more interesting than the RMIB for my kid.
Doubt she’ll get into either, but I do wish they would expand these types of programs. Once they have it at once school, can’t they replicate it down county? Maybe at Wheaton or something? |
Anonymous
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I attended in the mid 90s, so I'm sure the program changed a lot in 20+ years. Back then it was seen as the third choice magnet compared to Blair (STEM) and Richard Montgomery (IB). I applied to all three and got into Poolesville (admittedly I wasn't a great student, and generally would be described as "intelligent but not motivated" by teachers). I thought the program's focus on environmentalism was progressive for that time and I enjoyed the ourdoorsy aspect of the trips, as well as the tie in with how to use science to study the health of the environment. I distinctly remember taking water samples from various bodies of water to study dissolved oxygen content and identify microorganisms as ways to measure the health of an ecosystem. We definitely tried to take learning outside the classroom into nature as much as was practical - not surprising considering most of the teachers were former hippies from the 60's.
The program was challenging and had an accelerated science program. From what I can remember (again this was 20 years ago so not sure if is still accurate), we skipped 9th grade Lab Science and went straight into Chemistry and then Biology, which was taught later in a typical high school curriculum in MCPS. There were several capstone projects where we were expected to use the scientific method to study some aspect of the environment. I believe we were also expected to maintain the Honors track in Math, and expected to finish with some flavor of AP Calculus. All that said, the commute is what killed it for me. My family lived in Germantown at the time and it was tolerable for 9th grade. Also the alternative was Seneca Valley, which didn't exactly have the best reputation at the time (first school in MoCo to get metal detectors and cameras IIRC). When we moved to a W school district right before 10th grade, the commute time almost doubled - I remember being out at the bus stop before 6:30 or so. I ended up transferring to the new school I was zoned to middle of 10th grade and found that the curriculum was probably equally challenging, so take that how you will. There was a bit of confusion with how my credits transferred though and I think I missed out on half the standard Chemistry curriculum (didn't impact me at all considering I continued on to study Computer Science). Honestly I liked it much better than Poolesville because there was much greater diversity (I'm East Asian, though I understand that Poolesville's racial demographics have gone from like 2% Asian to like 20% since the 90's). In the end, I would say I recommend the program for those who know they want to go into the sciences or if you know you have an interest in studying the environment. Just make sure the commute from where you live isn't a dealbreaker. |
Anonymous
. This is all helpful - thank you for taking the time to post. Unfortunately the commute is our dealbreaker. |
Anonymous
| DC was accepted into Global Ecology, RMIB, and SMCS. Chose Global and loves it. Make of it what you will. |
Anonymous
| 9th grade DD attends PHS SMACS and absolutely loves it and has all A's. But, she seems a little bit jealous about the Global and Humanities kids. She said they have it easy and Global keeps a bus on campus that they use to trek all over the place while SMACS kids work, compute and work some more even after all the other kids go home. But, my DD loves Math and Science, the teachers, the cool challenges and internship/programs they get invited to so I promise her I will take her to all the cool places Global goes to during the summer to make sure she has fun too. Go for it OP or PP. |