The Independent Study & Mentorship Program is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain real-world work experience as a high school student. Abbreviated ISM, the program expects the best of its students, requiring extensive research and dedication. The class builds business and social etiquette, interviewing skills, and hands-on experience in a work environment.
Students choose a career topic and go through an interview process, eventually selecting a mentor in their field of interest to work with for the entirety of the school year. Professional blog entries, mentor visits, and research assessments are required on a weekly basis. At the end of the year, students present their "final product" at the ISM Showcase Night in May. This is an original work composed by the student with the help of their chosen mentor, a way of creatively exhibiting all that they learned that year.
