The CASEE program is a Battleground Public School program that allows students to have an alternative education focusing on our ecosystem. While this program is available to any high school grade after a short approval screening, many wonder if the program can help students leap into such an alternative teaching and if it can give as a dependable education as conventional schools have.
Originally Created in 1993 as a collaboration between CTE (Career and Technical Education) and Battleground District science programs, CASEE states its mission is to increase student’s awareness of their world while also fostering and inspiring them to work in tandem with the Earth.
CASEE works with multiple agencies and businesses that share an ecocultural mindset to perform various experiments and studies on and off campus. Found also on campus are two major extracurricular clubs, One which creates the yearbook and another, the FFA which brings more detail to the CASEE curriculum and holds student activities and elections.
Each grade separates CASEE classes with a focus on individual studies, the following is the set curriculum for any student looking to join.
Freshmen are offered Biology and Natural Resources. Sophomores are offered Wildlife and Forestry. Juniors have Chemistry, and Agroecology, and Seniors finish with Biotechnology and Microbiology
These classes also will include a separate English class for each respective grade. In these classes, you can expect a very hands-on learning experience where students will go outside to learn about the world around them. This includes opportunities to plant trees or study amphibians, not to mention around five field trips per school year.
The school keeps a very open social environment as Junior student Katie H. Warner put it.
“Because the students are here out of choice, so they all have at least some interest in science which gives us some common ground. “
While there are many perks to joining CASEE’s roster remember that this program stands at an advanced level of education.
Most CASEE classes contain opportunities for college credits due to their bump in difficulty from traditional schooling, these courses also have tighter deadlines comparatively. This constant movement on campus could become overwhelming for some students depending on their comfort level.
To join CASEE, you must fill out an application on their website where you will be asked a series of questions before submitting examples of recent Math and English papers to show your capability. You can be removed from this program if your grades drop low enough and you must be prepared for a very social experience once you join. The Commute to the facility should be rather simple for any battleground residents, despite residing on an 80-acre campus.
On a final note, CASEE is a school built for socially outgoing people who love nature and hands-on practice activities. Still, it does come with a difficulty curve that may differ from what someone may expect from a traditional high school curriculum.
