Lab Studies

Stepping Outside the Classroom

Every Wednesday, Grace’s high school students step outside the traditional classroom through Lab Studies—a required, four-year program that bridges academic learning and real-world engagement. Lab Studies courses are inquiry-based and project-driven, grounded in five domains: Inquiry & Independent Learning, Diversity & Social Justice, Health & Wellness, Sustainability, and Service Learning.

In ninth and tenth grade, students follow a structured sequence of required courses that introduce each domain. They learn to ask better questions, examine their own identities, navigate personal safety and health, and engage with issues of sustainability and civic life. This sequence culminates with Independent Projects 10, known throughout the Grace community as IP10. A cornerstone of the high school experience, sophomores spend the majority of the year pursuing a self-directed research project entirely of their own choosing, presenting their work and discoveries to the community at a symposium in the spring.

In eleventh and twelfth grade, students choose from a wide range of electives that allow them to pursue areas of genuine interest in depth, while fulfilling distribution requirements in Health & Wellness and Sustainability.

Elective offerings reflect the full breadth of the program: Students might partner with the Billion Oyster Project to restore oyster reef habitats in New York Harbor, work with Grassroots Grocery to address food insecurity in the local community, study climate science with a field director from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, or examine the ethics of artificial intelligence alongside philosophers and practitioners. Running throughout eleventh and twelfth grade are two signature required courses: College Seminar, which guides students through every aspect of the college application process, and the Senior Storytelling Project, in which every graduating senior crafts and delivers a personal narrative using The Moth’s framework for authentic storytelling—a rite of passage that asks students to look back on their lives and articulate the legacy they intend to carry forward.

Students may also apply to Peer Leadership, a two-year program in which juniors and seniors develop facilitation and communication skills while co-leading advisory groups with younger students across both Grace campuses, a tangible expression of the school’s belief that leadership is learned by doing.

“I enjoy teaching ‘The Census: Who Matters and Who Is Counted’ because it shows how a simple headcount shapes our everyday lives. We look beyond the numbers to focus on the human lives behind them, and through partnerships and guest speakers, we explore how migration, race, and representation affect who feels included or excluded. Our goal is to help students think deeply and care for their communities.”

Giurissa Félix, HS Faculty