Classes start on Monday, Ausust 30, for the girls of Marlborough School, and three key programs are set to take students out of the classroom and help them thrive in settings ranging from job experience to the digital landscape.

Students are preparing for an exciting year at Marlborough School, which will offer an “Online School for Girls”. (photo courtesy of Marlborough School)

The all-girls private college preparatory school offers rigorous academic programs, and Jeanette Woo Chitjian, director of admissions at Marlborough School, highlighted the school’s decision to join a different kind of program that goes beyond the borders of their classrooms.

Marlborough will begin participating in the Online School for Girls, an international educational center where students can take classes online with classmates from around the globe in a wide variety of courses.

“This girls school expands across the country and provides online classes customized specifically for girls with classes potentially not taught at Marlborough,” Chitjian said.

Students can now take advanced classes by specialists who teach at other schools, in online settings with a more intimate structure of no more than 20 students. While students can now learn from a new group of specialists, Marlborough faculty members can also contribute by teaching for other schools online as well.

“Teachers have the opportunity to teach and students have the opportunity to do this as well,” Chitjian added. “This program expands our curriculum and puts them in touch with faculty and girls around the country.”

Back at the campus, located at 250 S. Rossmore Ave., Marlborough is also making some changes to existing programs. Chitjian hailed the longstanding Leonetti/O’Connell Family Honors Research in Science program.

“Entering its fourteenth year, it has grown and now has a humanities and social science component,” Chitjian said. “It involves independent research with a mentor in the greater Los Angeles area, like Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles city planning and other various mentorships. Girls choose what they want to research and faculty find people for them to work with.”

Through the program, students decide what they want to study and instructors use their personal networks to set up internships to provide hands-on training with direct connections to future employment. Chitjian also lauded the After Hours Arts (AHA) program, open to 7th and 8th grade students after school.

“There’s no audition necessary and it involves after school singing, dance and theatre,” Chitjian said. “It really supports our philosophy that we want the girls to try a lot of everything, regardless of experience.”

Marlborough School is privately owned and consists of 530 students in grades 7 – 12. The school has 54 full time and 18 part time faculty members, and a 13 to one student-to-teacher ratio. Last year, 87 Marlborough students were accepted at 46 higher educational institutions, with 21 students accepted at Ivy League schools. For information, visit www.marlboroughschool.org.