Ursuline Academy is pleased to debut three new academic courses this fall: Directed Research and Inquiry, Cybersecurity, and Classical Foundations.
The course Directed Research and Inquiry is of special interest as it allows current Ursuline seniors to study under the tutelage of Boston College professors!
Read below to learn more about our exciting new courses.
Directed Research and Inquiry is offered to seniors who wish to engage in rigorous, original research under the guidance of faculty mentors from Ursuline Academy and Boston College. This year-long course guides students through the complete research process: from developing meaningful questions, to conducting systematic investigation, to presenting findings to the school community.
Cybersecurity will offer a broad introduction to the field of cybersecurity, including common threats and vulnerabilities, and how those combine to create risk. Students study the ways that individuals and organizations manage risk and how it can be mitigated through a defense-in-depth strategy. Students explore specific vulnerabilities, attacks, mitigations, and detection measures across a variety of domains, including physical spaces, computer networks, devices, and data and applications.
Classical Foundations (CF) is designed to introduce Grade 7 and 8 students to the linguistic, intellectual, and cultural foundations of the Western tradition. This course builds shared academic vocabulary and analytical habits that strengthen student performance across all disciplines. CF is not a Latin course. Rather, it is a classical etymology and ideas course that equips students with foundational tools drawn from Latin and Greek to enhance vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking in their subjects throughout their first year at Ursuline. Through the structured study of roots, bases, prefixes, and suffixes, students will examine how words shape meaning and how ideas shape civilizations. The course emphasizes careful thinking, slow and attentive reading, and intellectual curiosity.
