There are two main requirements Twin Peaks students need to meet in order to graduate: volunteer hours and class credits.
First, because it is important to engage in the community, Twin Peaks high school students are required to complete at least 100 hours of volunteering. Students can fulfill this requirement by volunteering at school (our teachers are very thankful for their help!) or outside in the wider community. Our students have volunteered at food banks, humane societies, and religious institutions. They can even include time caring for younger siblings, as long as they are unpaid. To have volunteer hours included in their tally, students can fill out the Service Hours form available in the secondary front office. And students who go above and beyond by serving at least 200 volunteer hours earn an honor cord to wear at graduation.
Second, Twin Peaks students must earn 26.5 class credits and take specific classes. Each semester of a class is worth 0.5 of a credit, meaning that students may earn up to 8 credits during the academic year. (Athletes may also earn 0.25 of a credit for each year of participating on one of our sports teams.)
The high school at Twin Peaks continues the rigorous classical education begun in elementary and middle school, so students are required to take specific courses in literature, history, mathematics, science, and foreign language. In freshman literature, Dr. Moe guides our students through The Iliad and The Odyssey, discussing what our responsibilities are to other people (a topic many parents of fourteen-year-olds can get behind). Twin Peaks students are required to take four years of math in high school, with an increasing number of students completing two years of calculus. We are especially proud of our required Rhetoric class, in which students learn to identify the strengths in great speeches from history and then apply the skills to their own presentations. In their junior and senior years, students can choose to take our challenging AP Biology, AP Physics, and AP Chemistry classes to prepare them to study science or medicine at college.
Students can explore more specific interests, with classes in programming, painting, geography, jazz, publishing, and many other subjects.
For more information on the specific classes and example plans, check out “What Do I Need to Take to Graduate?” and to learn more about electives and the sixteen AP classes offered at Twin Peaks, take a look at our Course Catalog. Questions about graduation requirements can be sent to our high school assistant principal, Ms. Cook.