College & Career Pathways Program
New at SHRHS for 2026-2027
College & Career Pathways
What would you do if nobody graded you?
A 9th grade foundation course that helps students build the mindset, skills, and knowledge to succeed in school and after graduation. Students take on real challenges, learn how to learn, and start thinking about the kind of person they want to become.
- Grade 9
- Foundation course
- Financial literacy in the second half of the year
What the course is for
The course gives our school community a shared vocabulary and a set of mental models for learning that students can use in every class, and beyond.
Priority one: strong character
Before any single skill, students work on a strong mentality and robust character traits.
Discipline
Accountability, intrinsic motivation, and doing uncomfortable things. This includes perseverance: follow-through, stoicism, and the Stockdale Paradox.
Humility
Gratitude, service before self, politeness, empathy, and an anti-entitlement outlook.
Curiosity
Learn independently, engage as a citizen, and take initiative.
Scientific thinking
Investigate through inquiry, read critically, and reason quantitatively.
Communication
Express ideas clearly and use sources well.
Collaboration
Build networks, navigate conflict, lead teams, and design solutions.
Each core skill lines up with the competencies in our Profile of a Graduate.
The big ideas
What we want every freshman to leave with, so teachers and families can point back to it all four years.
Own your growth
- You can change.
- Focus on what you can control.
- Your choices shape who you become.
- Learn how to learn.
- Stay curious.
- Be willing to be wrong.
- Failure can provide information.
- Seek feedback and adjust.
Decide well
- Ask for evidence.
- Every choice has an opportunity cost.
- Most important choices involve trade-offs.
- Think beyond the immediate consequence.
- Define success rather than merely inheriting someone else's definition of it.
Build habits that last
- Small actions compound.
- Build systems and habits instead of relying on motivation.
- Protect your attention.
Work with others
- Understand other people's perspectives.
- Communicate clearly and listen well.
- Be someone other people can rely on.
- Learn to create value for other people.
Running through it all: how and when should I use AI?
Questions students explore
Each unit starts with a question students want answered right away. More overtly financial topics come in the second half of the year.
Mindset and skills units
- What makes someone successful?
- How much of my future is already decided?
- What is my attention worth?
- How do I get comfortable failing?
- What would you do if nobody graded you?
- Why do I know what I should do, but still not do it?
- How do you become the person everyone wants on their team?
- How do I make a decision I won't regret?
- How do I know when I'm being lied to?
Financial literacy units
- How do I make money?
- Who decides what things cost?
- How do I get a job?
- Where did all my money go?
- Why is $100 today different from $100 later?
- When is debt worth it?
- Why do people take risks with their money?
- How do I sell something?
- How much money is enough?
Featured unit: Failing Uncomfortably
Students and their groups compete in a game show called the Failympics. The goal is to see who can stretch outside their comfort zone most often. Success means trying your best in areas that feel uncomfortable, and missions are completed and documented outside of school as homework.
Fear of Failure
Students discuss the different types of failure and why we fear them, then learn the rules of the game.
Seek Challenges
A team-based experiment on whether conflict and challenge help or hurt us. See the sample lesson below.
Failure to Persist
How far can your team throw a piece of paper? Groups need at least five different designs, and no one can touch the paper in flight.
Fear of Public Speaking
Memorize and recite a poem, a portion of a speech, or a set of facts.
Rejection
With your group, learn and perform a 3-4 minute skit or a karaoke song for the class.
Creativity Failure
List 100 uses for a common object, like a paperclip or a spoon.
Sample missions
Students log missions outside of class using the Goosechase app.
- Earn $50 (legally)
- Earn the most at a lemonade stand
- Get 10 strangers to play you in rock-paper-scissors
- Sit with someone new at lunch
- Start a lunchtime game and recruit 15 players
- Start with a pencil or paper clip and make progressively better trades
- Sell something for $1 with permission
- Get five people to try something new
- Get a teacher you don't know to answer an unusual question
- Interview someone with a job you've never considered
- Give five genuine compliments to unfamiliar students or people
- Introduce yourself to five people you've never spoken with
- Create a container that keeps an ice cube from melting as long as possible
Sample lesson: Seek Challenges
Essential question
Does conflict and challenge help or hurt us?
How it's framed for students
- You are a scientist who works for the American Land Analog Megacorp.
- Your team will be presented with a series of problems to solve.
- You won't know the best answers until the end of the experiment, so use what you learn along the way.
Learning objectives
- Evaluate a team's effectiveness in unfamiliar situations based on assessments of their dynamics.
- Explain the effect that overcoming challenges can have on a team or an individual.
How learning is assessed
- Formative: group sheets track discussions.
- Summative: an exit slip asks, "What did you learn about challenging yourself today?"