THE STONE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL
Welcome
to Stone.
#ExploreEverywhere
The Stone Independent School is a progressive, interdisciplinary 7-12 school which believes that all students learn best by doing.
We look forward to getting to know you — and your family.
We are excited to introduce you to our vibrant and diverse community – here at Stone, we are dedicated to creating a college preparatory learning environment that inspires creativity, critical thinking, and personal growth for dynamic students who seek to cultivate a spirit of independence.
Our admissions process is designed to be comprehensive and welcoming, ensuring that we get to know each prospective student and family. Below, you will find all necessary information to guide you through our admissions process, including opportunities to join us for a tour and set-up shadow days, as well as tips for success within the admissions process.
We invite you to explore and discover what makes our school unique, and we look forward to the possibility of welcoming you to this remarkable and remarkably creative community. As you have questions, please reach out – otherwise know how much we’re looking forward to working with you!
The Admissions Team
Mike Simpson (Head of School) + Sarah Clarke (Registrar)
Experience Stone.
Open
Houses
In Person and Interactive
We believe that the best way to get to know Stone is to visit our building and experience what it feels like to be a Stone Student. At an Open House, prospective families hear about our programmatic design from Head of School Mike Simpson, take a sample Stone class lead by one of our instructors, and finally, have the opportunity to ask our student panel questions about their experience at Stone.
Private
Tours
Private Tours with Head of School Mike Simpson
Prospective families seeking an individualized learning experience are invited to sign up for a private tour. During the tour, you'll meet with Head of School Mike Simpson to discuss our unique program and curriculum, address your specific questions, and witness our vibrant community in action.
The Application Process.
1
Connect
Basically, let us know you’re interested!
Like most colleges and universities,
we look for “demonstrated interested” from our applicants. If you are excited about Stone, email us so we can begin a conversation about Stone. We look forward to connecting with you!
2
Shadow
The best way to get to know Stone is to get to know Stone! Every prospective student is given the opportunity to shadow a current Stone student through their school day. This allows your student to assess if Stone is the right educational fit for them and it also allows us to assess if this is an educational environment that allows your student to thrive.
Applicants interested in Upper School placement should schedule a full-day shadow on campus. Middle School applicants may choose between half day and a full day.
3
Apply
When you feel as though you really “get” Stone and you’re ready to work on our application, head right here to get started.
Pay particular attention to our essay questions — they aren’t like “most” essay questions and we look at them carefully to consider fit — and remember that we can not consider any application without two years of transcripts.
4
Interview
As part of the application process, we ask that all students interview with at least two members of the Stone community — typically one member of our Admissions Team and an academic Division Leader.
In many ways, the interviews are the most important steps in the admissions process — we are looking for students who are excited to come to Stone, who can show evidence of curiosity, who are ready to begin the work of their life.
Driven by feedback.
Problem-Based
Learning.
At Stone, we believe the practice of higher-order problem solving is the catalyst for richer and more meaningful learning experiences. Philosophically, our practices are grounded in the tradition of progressive education; our curriculum and our pedagogy is problem-based. We design for and measure deep learning, and we are anchored by competency-based assessment practices. Stone students are co-architects of their education: we invite them to work in real-world contexts, using real-world processes, innovation, tools, and standards as a way to connect to their own concerns, interests, and identities.
Stone students are deeply curious people who want to grapple and strive, who want to be challenged and to grow, who believe rigor is found in complexity, who want to have impact on their community and their world. Our students graduate Stone and matriculate to four-year colleges with stand-out experiences in academic research, STEM exploration and laboratory work, entrepreneurship, travel, and global education.
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The Portrait of a Graduate provides direction for our course development. The language of Stone’s Portrait of a Graduate began with faculty describing the hopes and the dreams we had for young people: what would really prepare them for the world into which they’d be released? What would make them independent, well-read, empathetic, creative, and curious? What kind of competencies could ensure effective problem-solving and activate imagination? What would make them strong logical thinkers and confident contributors? How could we decenter the “self” whilst simultaneously cultivating selfhood?
Our goal for all students is that they demonstrate evidence of proficiency or mastery in the core skills of each course they take; their proficiency is assessed through a culture of feedback as well as grading. All of it should align upward: the work our students do in their classrooms serves to help master the skills; the skills they practice enable them to respond to "Big Questions"; those questions serve as trailheads on their journey through the competencies in our Portrait of a Graduate; the Portrait of a Graduate empowers each of us to serve and execute our Mission.
1. Design Thinking. Interacting, reflection, collaborating, incorporating feedback, viewing failure as an opportunity to learn, and acknowledging that innovation requires small successes and frequent mistakes;2. Leadership and Teamwork. Initiating new ideas and leading through influence; facilitating group discussions, forging consensus, and negotiating outcomes; collaborating on tasks, managing groups, and delegating responsibility;
3. Rhetoric. Writing, speaking, and reading across disciplines;
4. Risk-taking and Initiative. Bringing a sense of courage to unfamiliar situations; exploring and experimenting; working effectively in a climate of ambiguity; and cultivating an independence of spirit to explore new roles;
5. Civics. Applying personal communication skills, knowledge of political systems, and the ability to think critically about civic and political life to become engaged citizens.
6. Global Perspectives. Developing open-mindedness, particularly regarding the values and traditions of others; understanding non-western history, politics, culture, and religions; developing facility with one or more foreign languages; developing social and intellectual skills to navigate effectively across cultures; using 21st Century skills to address global issues;
7. Entrepreneurial Mindset. Using creativity and imagination to solve problems; recognizing and acting on opportunity; being capable of making decisions with limited information; remaining adaptable and resilient in conditions that are uncertain and complex.
8. STEM Literacy. Identifying, applying, and experimenting with integrated concepts from science, technology, engineering and mathematics to describe and solve complex problems.
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Because we are a problem-based school, our students encounter complex (or "wicked") problems throughout the work they do. We empower our students to grapple with complex problems by supply them with four core problem-solving frameworks:
Systems Thinking
Design Thinking
Entrepreneurial Mindset
The Aristolean Triangle
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Prior to commencement, Stone students are required to earn six credits in foundational English courses (9th and 10th grade), six credits in foundational History courses (9th and 10th grade), 12 credits in Upper Level Humanities courses (11th - 12th grade), 10 credits in mathematics courses, 10 credits in lab science courses, 2 credits of in the arts, and advance past Level III of a world language. In addition, Stone students must complete two credits of Entrepreneurial Thinking (9th and 10th grade), and three Exhibition Courses: The BCQ (10th grade); Junior Workshop (11th Grade), and Senior Defense (12th grade).
Stone students have a wide variety of courses to choose from. See our Course Selection Guide here, and see below for just a few examples:
Multivariable Calculus
Music Theory
Dance Composition
Chinese Folktales and Ghost Stories
Ecology and the Environment
The Science of SCUBA
Waves, Sound and Quantum Mechanics
Andean Mythology
Islam in America
How to Read a Film: An Introduction to Film Criticism
Advanced Humanities: Bildungsroman
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STEM Honors. By invitation/application only. Students in STEM Honors engage in a year-long independent and novel research project that is largely conducted outside of school hours. They are required to produce significant academic artifacts and meet regular deadlines to be allowed to remain in the program and to exhibit on Honors Night. Students who earn STEM Honors will have that achievement designated on their transcripts, as well as be recognized at Commencement.
Humanities Honors. By invitation/application only. Students in Humanities Honors in a self-directed and research-based project outside of the ordinary course offerings of the department. The program requires students to be inquisitive, exploratory, experimental, and bold and exhibit evidence of the most difficult application of the skills-centered work we practice at Stone. Students who earn Humanities Honors will have that achievement designated on their transcripts, as well as be recognized at Commencement.
Global/Experiential Education Program. Woven into our 7-12 curriculum. We believe that offering meaningful opportunities for students to dive deeply into academic, social, and cultural learning outside of our our regular coursework cultivates curiosity, empathy, identity, and confidence. We also believe strongly in the power of reflection that experiential learning provides. Several of our students have identified future areas of post-secondary study through our experiential education programs. Recent trips have including spelunking, marine research on a sailboat in the Bahamas, Patagonia rewilding, Icelandic earth science research, and National Parks trekking trips.
Leadership Education Ecosystem.
The Big Curiosity Quest (Sophomore Year). The Big Curiosity Quest. Required for 10th grade students. Born in the spring of 2020 when Stone used the necessary pivot to distance learning to temporarily re-write our curriculum into an interdisciplinary inquiry-based experience, the BCQ is now a one-Mod research course where students are asked to respond to a single, interdisciplinary question in the form of public presentation and exhibition of synthesis. This course requires an intentional practice of being curious, an emphasis on process, and the ability to unpack difficult concepts.
Junior Workshop. Required for 11th grade students. The Junior Workshop is a two-Mod course for which eleventh-grade students create knowledge, insight, beauty and/or function by executing a project which arises out of their own passions. The project requires significant research, but a student’s product may not be a report on this knowledge: they must bring something new into the world. Students are evaluated on their original research, product design, and project management skills. Students must give a 15-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute Q&A from a Faculty Panel to complete the course.
Senior Defense. Required for 12th grade students. Senior Defense is a significant research project that serves as a synthesis of learning, and the defense of a student’s academic and intellectual growth during their time at Stone. Senior Defense is different from a capstone project in that a student is given a personalized question to which they respond in depth. Pre-advising for the question takes place from October to December, questions are sent in March, and in June students must deliver their final response during a 30-minute presentation, defending their process and “product”, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with a Faculty Panel.
Comprehensive, Multi-Year Entrepreneurial Thinking Program. The Stone Independent School is the first school in our region to offer a comprehensive, multi-year, entrepreneurial program. Students are required to take Entrepreneurial Thinking I & II, and they are expected to apply an “entrepreneurial mindset framework” to all challenges they encounter during their time at Stone. We ask them to recognize and act on opportunity, practice making decisions with limited information, and remain adaptable and resilient in conditions that are uncertain and complex.
Physics-First, Integrated Sciences Program. Our 9-11th science program is a physics-first, integrated sciences program, wherein students take physics, chemistry, and biology lab courses each year. Ninth-grade students also take a required science data and measurement course called Structured Curiosity.
