As I understand it, they need NSL Government, and the three highlighted law courses on the list showing what classes count for the academy. The others are electives that can also be taken. Then there is the capstone project.

The International Studies pathway has a separate list.

https://sites.google.com/a/mcpsmd.net/mbhs-academies/isl

Also, the law classes all look like full year classes. The IS pathway classes look like a lot of them are one semester classes.

I wish it was more clear. Supposedly they explained this stuff at school, but my 9th grader doesn't seem to know how it works.

Thanks! I must admit I am even more confused now. In the FAQ at the academies site it says that the students must take three electives from an academy pathway in order to qualify for the capstone. But if all three law courses are a requirement for ISL, it seems there isn’t any choice left? Or maybe if you are more interested in international studies than law, you can pick three electives from that subgroup and not the three law courses?

The Academy site is not great for seeing exactly what the requirements are. As far as I know, being a "completer" for any academy means taking four classes from the list and completing a capstone project, but I could be wrong. I don't think that's a separate course, but something you complete on your own.

In the Law case, the minimum pathway seems pretty laid out already with NSL Gov, and the three required law classes with one being a prerequisite for the other two.

This thread has a post where someone describes the first law class and a forensics class (which fits in with law). Look for post at timestamp 12/10/2025 09:21
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/1304933.page

In the video at the top of this Academy page the Law instructor discusses the classes: https://sites.google.com/mcpsmd.net/mbhscoursebulletin/course-selection-process/blair-academies

I hope this helps at least somewhat. It does look like an interesting program.

My DD is interested in the ISL academy at Blair, but there isn't a whole lot of info on the website -- does anybody have recent experiences with it? Was there a capstone project and how does that work exactly -- do they need to take a separate "course" to complete it?