As a college-preparatory institution, St. Margaret’s academic excellence is rooted in vigor, choice and relevance and made possible by a strong foundation of educational expertise, research and best practices.
St. Margaret’s culture of innovation ensures unrivaled academics and programs that nurture and support the learning and growth of talented, enthusiastic students.
At St. Margaret’s, students are encouraged to explore their own interests in this vibrant, close-knit community, and Tartans seek opportunities for growth in athletics, the arts, service learning, leadership and more.
New Upper School Electives Go In-Depth in Economics, Architecture and Dance Composition
The new options available this semester are a natural evolution of St. Margaret's Upper School curriculum.
Upper School visual arts students are demonstrating their understanding of art and design concepts in a new elective focused on architecture.
The class, taught by Jesse Standlea and Phillip Griswold, will study two- and three-dimensional art concepts and theory, an understanding of space, form and function, and study and discuss historic and contemporary architecture.
The class will finish with a creative project where students design spaces they intend to build using hands-on and digital approaches.
“The process of planning, designing, and constructing will culminate with either finished drawings or finished scale models,” Mr. Standlea said, with scale models constructed using St. Margaret’s 3D printers, CNC router and laser cutter in the Johnson Wallis Visual Arts Center.
The class is just one new option available this semester to Upper School students at St. Margaret’s, which naturally evolves its curriculum based on a number of factors, including student need and interests and faculty knowledge and enthusiasm.
Elsewhere, a new history and social science class focused on economics seeks to enable students to make reasoned judgements about personal economic questions and broader questions of economic policy, with the objective to instill an economic way of thinking and problem-solving. The class, taught by Dr. Daniel Solarz, touches on topics like borrowing, earning power, investing and financial services.
And, in performing arts, Director of Dance Kirsten Harvey is teaching a new advance dance and composition honors course, where advanced and dedicated dance students demonstrate advanced technical skills in all genres, and a clear artistic vision and interpretation in performances and choreography they will create and produce.
An Independent Preschool Through Grade 12 College-Preparatory Day School in Orange County California
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St. Margaret's Episcopal School does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, sexual orientation or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational, admission, financial aid, hiring and athletic policies or in other school-administered programs.