Last spring, Marquese Gladney and his MacDowell Montessori IB High School classmates researched domestic violence.
“We learned there are different types of domestic violence — you can be controlled or suffer in silence,” Gladney, 14 said. “And we learned what the signs are.”
The group hung up posters across the school that included information for domestic violence shelters.
Other students ran a clothing drive. Another group held a bake sale for a Milwaukee homeless shelter.
It was all part of an eighth-grade capstone project for MacDowell’s International Baccalaureate, or IB, program.
By the time these middle schoolers are juniors and seniors in high school, they’ll be able to take college-level IB exams, not unlike Advance Placement exams, that could earn them college credit.
Wisconsin is expanding its IB offerings to high school students looking to challenge themselves and earn college credits before graduation.