Scholars of Distinction
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Updated with information for the 2023-24 school year.
The pathway requirements for Scholars of Distinction are listed under each specific department (available Scholar pathways are listed below). Students must receive a letter grade in all required courses within each pathway. Students can become a Scholar of Distinction in several academic areas.
Scholars of Distinction Requirements
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Computer Science
Computer Science Scholar
Required Pick 2 of 4 AP Computer Science (2 credits) Introduction to Computer Science Advanced Software Development AP Computer Science Principles Web Page Design I (1 credit) Collaborative Field Experience Web Page Design II (1 credit) - Must take at least 6 credits of courses from Computer Science Department at Valley High School.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in the courses listed above.
- Must take the semester exams in all scholar track courses without Pass/No Pass.
- Must take the AP Exams.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
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Engineering Technology
Architecture and Construction
Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics
Manufacturing
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
Foundations of Technology and Engineering (1 credit) OR Introduction to Manufacturing industry (1 credit) Foundations of Technology and Engineering (1 credit) OR Architectural Design I (1 credit) Introduction to Engineering Design (2 credits) Architectural Design I (1 credit) Consumer Auto (1 credit) Manufacturing Industry (1 credit) Two of the following courses: Architectural Design II (2 credits), Principles of Engineering (2 credits), Aerospace Engineering (2 credits), CIM: Manufacturing (1 credit), CIM: Robotics (1 credit) Welding Technology (1 credit) Automotive Technology I (1 credit) Welding Technology (1 credit) And two additional credits for any course not listed for this track but offered in the Engineering Tech. Department Carpentry Fundamentals (1 credit) Automotive Power Trains (1 credit) Advanced Metal Working (1 credit) Applied Engineering Technology (1 credit) Automotive Systems and Maintenance (1 credit) Applied Engineering Technology (1 credit) Construction Fundamentals (1 credit) Welding Technology (1 credit) Carpentry Fundamentals (1 credit) And two additional credits for any course not listed for this track but offered in the Engineering Tech. Department. - Must take at least 8 credits of courses from the Engineering Technology Department.
- Must complete one of the following articulated Engineering Technology career and technology programs offered at Valley High School.
- Architecture and Construction
- Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics
- Manufacturing
- Science Technology Engineering and Math
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in the courses listed above.
- Actively participate for at least one year in the Engineering Technology Department Career Technical Student organization—Skills USA or FIRST Robotics Competition.
- Must take the semester exams in all scholar track courses without Pass/No Pass.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
Items of Note
Student must participate in the Career Technical Student Organization attached to Engineering Tech. Department—Skills USA or FIRST Robotics Competition. -
Family and Consumer Sciences
Design
Culinary Arts
Textile Construction I Culinary Arts I Textile Construction II Culinary Arts II Design Studio (2 credits) Café V (ProStart) Fashion Analysis and Design Pick three credits from list of approved options: - Child Development
- Personal and Career Exploration
- Textile Construction I
- Textile Construction II
- Design Studio (2 credits)
- Fashion Analysis and Design
- Interior Design
Interior Design Pick one credit from list of approved options: - Child Development
- Personal and Career Exploration
- Culinary Arts I
- Culinary Arts II
- Café V (ProStart)
- Must take at least 7 credits of courses from the Family and Consumer Sciences department.
- Must complete one of the two articulated Family and Consumer Sciences career and technology strands offered at Valley High School – Design or Culinary Arts.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in the courses listed above.
- Actively participate for at least one year in the Family and Consumer Science Department Career and Technical Student Organization – FCCLA.
- Must take the semester exams in all scholar track courses without Pass/No Pass.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
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Fine Arts—Music
- Must take at least four years (8 credits) in an applied area of music in grades 9-12 at Valley/Valley Southwoods.
- Complete the Advanced Placement Music Theory course offered at Valley.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in all music courses.
- Must take the AP exam for the music Advanced Placement Theory courses.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
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Fine Arts—Visual Arts
- Must take at least four years (8 credits) in an applied area of visual arts in grades 9-12 at Valley/Valley Southwoods.
- Complete the Advanced Placement Art and Design course offered at Valley.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in all visual arts courses.
- Must take all semester exams in the scholarly field without Pass/No Pass.
- Must take the AP exam for the Art and Design course.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
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Language Arts
When students begin the Scholars track at Valley, they will have met the requirements for Lang and Lit, Fundamentals and Speech.
- Must take at least 12 total credits of Language Arts classes in grades 9-12 at Valley/Valley Southwoods.
- Requirements for the Scholars Track:
- Complete Advanced Composition; either World Literature or Advanced Contemporary Literature; AP Literature and Composition; and AP Language and Composition.
- Cluster 1 – take one credit from this cluster:
- Dramatic Literature
- Literature and the Land
- American Literary Voices
- Gender, Race, and Culture in Literature
- Science Fiction and Fantasy
- Bards, Rebels, and Renegades: Shakespeare and Contemporary Literature
- American Heritage
- Advanced Contemporary Literature (this course cannot fulfill two requirements simultaneously)
- World Literature (this course cannot fulfill two requirements simultaneously)
- Cluster 2 – Take one credit from this area:
- Creative Writing
- Advanced Creative Writing
- Debate I/Public Speaking
- Advanced Speech Communication
- Electives Offering
- Select an additional credit from Cluster 1 or Cluster 2, or take Digital Journalism Performance and Production, Broadcasting, Journalism, Newspaper, or Yearbook.
- Requirements for the Scholars Track:
- Complete AP Literature and Composition and AP Language and Composition.
- Have a general overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in all Language Arts courses.
- Must take the semester exam in all Language Arts courses without Pass/No Pass.
- Must take the AP exam in each AP level reading and writing course.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
- Must take at least 12 total credits of Language Arts classes in grades 9-12 at Valley/Valley Southwoods.
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Mathematics
- Must take at least four years (8 credits) of mathematics in grades 9-12 at Valley/Valley Southwoods.
- Complete two of the following: AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, and AP Statistics.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in all mathematics courses.
- Must take the semester test in all mathematics courses without Pass/No Pass.
- Must take the AP exams in all Advanced Placement calculus and statistics courses.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
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Science
- Must take at least four years (8 credits) of science in grades 9-12 at Valley/Valley Southwoods.
- Acceptable classes to meet Scholar of Science criteria: Physical Science (as a freshman), Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Anatomy and Physiology, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Environmental Science.
- Complete two of four AP science courses at VHS (biology, chemistry, physics, environmental).
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in all science courses.
- Must take the semester exam in all science courses without Pass/No Pass.
- Must take the AP exam for each AP science course taken.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
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Social Studies
- Must take at least four years (8 credits) of social studies in grades 9-12 at Valley/Valley Southwoods.
- Complete AP U.S. History, AP American Government, and AP Macroeconomics and select one class from either AP European History, AP World History, AP Psychology, or AP Human Geography.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in all social studies courses.
- Must take the semester exams in all social studies courses without Pass/No Pass.
- Must take the AP exams.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
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Technology and Applied Arts
Marketing
Accounting
Computer Software & Media
Foundations of Business (1 credit) OR Introduction to Business (1 credit) Leadership (1 credit) Business Law (1 credit)
Computer Applications I and II (1 credit each)
OR
Introduction to Computer Applications: Keyboarding and Word and Excel and PowerPoint (1 credit each)Sports and Entertainment Marketing (1 credit) Accounting I (1 credit) Web Page Design I (1 credit) Marketing (1 credit) Accounting II (1 credit) Web Page Design II (1 credit) Sales (1 credit) Personal Finance (1 credit Pick two credits from list of approved options: - Collaborative Field Experience OR Work Development
- Marketing OR Sports Entertainment and Marketing
- Business Law I
- Sales
- Foundations of Business (1 credit) OR Introduction to Business (1 credit)
Entrepreneurship (1 credit) Pick two credits from list of approved options: - Collaborative Field Experience OR Work Development
- Marketing OR Sports Entertainment and Marketing
- Computer Applications I
- Sales
- Foundations of Business (1 credit) OR Introduction to Business (1 credit)
Pick one credit from list of approved options: - Collaborative Field Experience OR Work Development
- Accounting I
- Computer Applications I
- Foundations of Business (1 credit) OR Introduction to Business (1 credit)
- Must take at least 8 credits of courses from the Business/Marketing Education Department.
- Must complete one of the articulated Business career and technology strands offered at Valley High School—Marketing, Accounting, or Computer Software and Media Applications.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
- Have a GPA of 4.0 in the courses listed above.
- Actively participate for at least one year in the Business Department Career and Technical Student Organization—DECA.
- Must take the semester exams in all scholar track courses without Pass/No Pass.
- Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
Items of Note
- Scholar designation could be earned in multiple strands.
- Scholar’s track would require participation in DECA, the Career and Technical Student Organization tied to the Business Department.
- Foundations of Business and Intro to Business are OR options. Foundations of Business is only offered at Valley Southwoods so if it is missed at Southwoods there would be no way to complete the Scholars track at Valley alone.
- Scholar tracks are aligned with State DOE designations.
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World Languages
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Must complete one of the following in grades 9-12 at Valley/Valley Southwoods:
- For courses with an AP option, an AP World Language class and…
- two additional years of another World Language to equal 4 credits approved by Valley Southwoods Freshman High School or Valley High School.
OR - meet the qualifying score on a world language assessment for the Seal of Biliteracy
- two additional years of another World Language to equal 4 credits approved by Valley Southwoods Freshman High School or Valley High School.
- For courses without an AP option, level four of that World Language and…
- three additional years of another world language equaling 6 credits approved by Valley Southwoods/Valley High School.
OR - meet the qualifying score on a world language assessment for the Seal of Biliteracy
- three additional years of another world language equaling 6 credits approved by Valley Southwoods/Valley High School.
- For courses with an AP option, an AP World Language class and…
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Have an overall GPA of at least 3.5.
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Have a GPA of at least 4.0 in all world languages courses.
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Must take the semester exam in all world language courses without Pass/No Pass.
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Must take the AP exam for each AP course taken.
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Must exhibit a “Capstone” experience.
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Capstone Experience
The Capstone experience for each Scholar will be a project that exhibits a deep level of understanding of their area of interest. This Capstone will be the synthesis of the important content, knowledge, or skills that are of vital significance and importance in the Scholar’s area of focus. The Capstone will be evaluated through the lenses of three standards: a) Construction of Knowledge, b) Elaborate Written Communication, and c) Connections to the Student’s Life. Students will develop a Capstone proposal based on the following criteria:
Standard 1: Construction of Knowledge
The task asks students to interpret, analyze, synthesize, or evaluate information in writing about a topic, rather than merely reproduce information. To score high, the task should require interpretation, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation of information that goes deeper than simple familiarity with the information.
Standard 2: Elaborated Written Communication*
The task asks students to draw conclusions or make generalizations or arguments and support them through extended writing. There is an explicit call for generalization AND support. The task asks students to draw conclusions or to make generalizations or arguments using narrative or expository writing, AND to substantiate them with examples, summaries, illustrations, details, or reasons.
*Elaborated communication may be most often evident in essays or research papers, but may take other forms.
Standard 3: Connections to Students’ Lives
The task asks students to connect the topic to their lives. The task asks students to connect the topic to experiences, observations, feelings, or situations significant in their lives using narrative or expository writing.
The individual Capstone proposal must be approved in May of the junior year. A presentation of the Capstone experience will be adjudicated prior to May 15 of the senior year by a jury of three composed of their Capstone adviser, a Valley administrator, and a teaching and learning administrator (as available).
The Capstone adviser will meet with their team of assigned scholars. A topical agenda with timeline will guide the process. This will be explained to all participants during the September large group meeting.
