Leadership Community Connection

The LCC offers students with a wide variety of interests the opportunity to collaborate in meaningful and challenging expeditions centered on learning deeply about real-life content which applies the skills necessary for college and career readiness. Students in the LCC path are active learners who make their work public for the purpose of attaining their high personal level of achievement.

The LCC option for DTSE students offers a traditional 4-year high school curriculum with the opportunity to earn dual credits via Ivy Tech classes and to earn college credit by way of Advanced Placement testing. Teachers work together to offer elective opportunities, so our students may participate in fine arts and technology experiences.  Foundational to our practice is the fact that all LCC students participate in real-world immersion experiences called expeditions. In expeditions, students in grades 9-12 integrate their knowledge and understanding from math, science, social studies, world language and culture and language arts to gain deep understanding of one overarching topic. An integral part of expeditions is the opportunity both for fieldwork in all grade levels and for internships in the senior year. Additionally, students meet with experts from their fields of study and create real-world products to demonstrate their learning which often contain a strong service component.

In the LCC small school, instruction is consistently student focused, and, as students mature, it becomes student driven. While some direct instruction, in the form of mini-lessons, is used, the bulk of instruction utilizes hands-on and active learning protocols such as Socratic seminars, workshops, conversation cafes and gallery walks. Peer editing and review protocols are used for student feedback and revision in all disciplines. Students’ experiences in our small school revolve around a culture of: shared community norms and individual responsibility; academics in which failure is valued as a learning tool and success is strived for in activities both large and small; and times both for group work and support and individual contemplation and introspection.