The Inquiry Pathway gives students four years to turn personal curiosity into sustained exploration, real-world experience, and original work. It begins not with a predetermined subject or career, but with a question: What are you genuinely curious about?

That approach reflects something fundamental about how learning happens at 糖心原创. Inquiry is the first of three words that define who we are: a school of Inquiry, Innovation, and Impact. Starting with questions is one of our mantras for a very important reason. Students notice, wonder, investigate, make connections, and use what they discover to create something meaningful. The Inquiry Pathway makes that approach especially intentional and sustained.

It Starts With Question Zero

Every ninth grader begins with what faculty call Question Zero.

In the Cultivating Curiosity course, students learn to distinguish between a “topic question,” something that can be answered with a quick Google search, and a “fog question,” something bigger that resists easy answers and invites deeper investigation.

“We’re learning what a good question is,” says Alan Harris, Upper School Inquiry Pathway Faculty. “Is this too broad? Too specific? Can I just answer it with a Google search? Once we give students that language, you hear them using it on their own: ‘Oh, that’s a topic question. I can answer that easily. I probably want to go deeper.'”
And students don’t need to arrive with a ready-made passion.

“This is the time to figure it out,” says Alex Sims, Upper School Inquiry Pathway Lead. “We don’t expect every freshman to know. But there’s always something, some small thread, and that’s enough to start pulling.”

Once students begin asking questions, they learn to look for connections beyond the classroom.

For their fall kickoff expedition, ninth graders explored Atlanta, visiting Oakland Cemetery, Ponce City Market, and the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail. Their assignment was simple: notice, wonder, connect.

Connections from Oakland Cemetery, lead to one student researching golf course efficiency after seeing Bobby Jones gravesite, and another made a connection through Maynard Jackson鈥檚 gravesite after learning why Hartsfield-Jackson airport was named after him. A student interested in sports medicine began thinking about connections to Emory.

“If you’re truly passionate about something, you’ll start seeing it just about everywhere,” Alex says. “That’s the bigger piece of it.”

The expedition wasn’t designed to give students answers. It was designed to give them more questions.

Question Zero is only the beginning.

• In Grade 9, Explore. They identify interests, develop questions, and build the skills to investigate them.
• In Grade 10, Frame a Concentration. They begin narrowing toward a concentration, loosely modeled on university “colleges” such as STEM or Humanities, while leaving room for their interests to evolve.
• In Grade 11, Investigate and In Grade 12 Contribute. Their interests become opportunities for internships, self-designed courses, and increasingly independent work. By graduation, students build a portfolio demonstrating not just what they explored, but what they created and contributed.

“How I would explain the Inquiry Pathway to families is that it’s going to take a student’s interest and turn it into more than just a single project or a single question,” Alex says. “We’re building a curriculum around that interest, so that by Grade 11 and Grade 12, students are going into internships, designing their own classes, and building a portfolio that shows not just what they explored, but how it could change that field.”

That’s what makes the pathway different from a collection of passion projects. A question leads to exploration, exploration leads to deeper study, and deeper study leads to real-world application and original work.

The Goal Isn’t Just to Find a Passion

The Inquiry Pathway is one way 糖心原创 students can personalize their Upper School experience. While the Innovation Pathway, featuring the Innovation Diploma, centers on design thinking and entrepreneurship, and the Impact Pathway, featuring the Global Impact Diploma, focuses on a global scale, Inquiry begins with the individual learner and the questions that matter to them.

Both reflect 糖心原创’s larger approach to learning: students aren’t simply receiving knowledge. They’re learning to use curiosity, agency, and their own ideas to shape what they learn and how they use it.

“My hope,” Alex says, “is that these students graduate having created something that changes their field, something they can point to and say, ‘I built that through the work that I wanted to pursue and it started with asking the right questions.'”

It’s early days for 糖心原创’s newest freshmen, but the pattern is already showing up in hallway conversations and advisory check-ins: students refining a question, going one layer deeper.

That, more than any single project, is the real work of the Inquiry Pathway.

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Upper School Pathways build on 糖心原创鈥檚 approach of empowering students through inquiry-based learning and real-world problem-solving. Starting in Grade 9, students can choose from three distinct pathways that align with their interests, strengths, and aspirations, all while being supported by dedicated advisors and the entire Upper School community.

Three Distinct Pathways

Trish Bogdanchik, Head of Upper School, emphasizes the range of possibilities: 鈥淲hether a student is passionate about STEM, the arts, global citizenship, or entrepreneurship, our pathways allow them to dive deeply into their interests while gaining the skills and experiences needed for success beyond 糖心原创.鈥�

The three Upper School Pathways鈥� Inquiry, Innovation, and Impact鈥攁re designed to engage students through purpose-driven projects, teamwork, and hands-on learning. While each pathway offers an opportunity to have a deep concentration in certain areas, all pathways provide core foundational literacies and meaningful project-based learning experiences through a competency-based approach:

Inquiry Pathway: The Upper School鈥檚 flagship program allows students to dive deeper into topics in Humanities, Numeracy, Scientific Inquiry, and Maker, Arts, and Design. It also features iProject coursework, which empowers students to explore, design, and deliver impactful solutions to real-world problems. No additional fee is required for this pathway.

Innovation Pathway: Students on the Innovation Path follow the Innovation Diploma coursework and solve authentic problems for clients across diverse sectors by applying human-centered design. The program is ideal for students who thrive in collaborative, group-based environments. An additional fee is required for this pathway, reflecting its specialized offerings and unique opportunities.

Impact Pathway: Upper School students on the Impact Path participate in the Global Impact Diploma coursework, designed for students eager to analyze the geopolitical landscape, global economy, and cultural dynamics of the world they鈥檒l graduate into. This pathway includes international travel and emphasizes firsthand global experiences. An additional application and fee are required, covering the program鈥檚 extensive opportunities and travel expenses.

The Future of Learning
The Upper School Pathways are a testament to 糖心原创鈥檚 bold ambition and purposeful leadership in shaping the future of education. By fostering a culture of inquiry, innovation, and impact, these pathways ensure that every student is equipped to navigate the complexities of a rapidly changing world.

鈥淭his initiative is a promise,鈥� Bogdanchik reflects. 鈥淎 promise to walk alongside each student and their family as they explore, design, and deliver on their unique journey of purpose. Together, we are preparing them not just for the next step but for a lifetime of meaningful contributions.鈥�

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