New Trier High School students may soon be able to intern at area schools, work on a personal trainer certification or earn college credit in new and existing English classes if school board members approve a slate of new course proposals next month.
Five new course proposals were presented to Board of Education members at Monday’s meeting, including three new Advanced Placement courses. Board members will vote at their next meeting, in December, whether to approve the new offerings.
“This is about new opportunities for students, meeting student interests and student needs, and providing access and opportunity to rich coursework,” said Chimille Tillery, assistant superintendent for teaching and instruction.
A semester-long teaching internship builds upon a new course offered this school year and could place students in partner elementary and middle schools as soon as the 2027-2028 school year, Tillery said, while a semester-long personal training class designed with the American Council on Exercise will prepare students to take the ACE’s Personal Trainer certification as soon as spring 2027.
Also in the proposals are plans to expand AP credit offerings to Integrated Global Studies School students and allow students enrolled in an existing class on post-colonial literature to take the AP Literature exam.
Post-colonial literature, a long-standing senior course offering, focuses on contemporary literature from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, with students reading works like Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” as well as more recent works like Jamaica Kincaid’s “Annie John.”
Integrated Global Studies School is a “school-within-a-school” experiential study program for New Trier juniors and seniors.
If approved, IGSS students’ junior and senior English courses will qualify as AP Seminar and AP Research courses, respectively. Tillery said these will be the first AP Seminar and Research courses offered by the school.
“Our IGSS curriculum is already strongly aligned with the individualized, inquiry-based approach of AP Seminar, so this is less of a shift and more of a new opportunity for students,” Tillery said.
The new AP curriculum will require approval from the College Board, which administers AP exams.
Board members responded positively to Tillery’s presentation, with board member Sally Tomlinson expressing support for the addition of more semester-long, as opposed to year-long, courses.