Advanced Classes

Our advanced classes are designed for high school students preparing to take courses at their school’s highest level. Wolfeboro’s Advanced Classes focus on mastery of the foundational content needed for success in the fall, and explicitly teach the habits of minds that will prepare students to succeed in courses typically described as “college-level” or beyond. Students practice essential skills such as close reading, effective note-taking, organizing their ideas in writing, and approaching assessments with confidence. They learn to engage critically with primary and secondary sources, analyze data, and discuss complex ideas - skills that support success in advanced classes and across all subjects. Students also have dedicated time in class to work on their summer assignments, with their teacher available to provide guidance and support every step of the way.

Different from other WCS courses, these classes may require occasional laptop use.

Advanced Class Descriptions

Calculus

Statistics

What can we learn from data? This course will explore one variable data, to include standardized scores, data collection methods and experimental design. Students will create and conduct an experiment to test response bias, and they will present their findings to the school. This course is suitable for students preparing for an advanced statistics course or engaging in a capstone project or other independent research in the fall. TI-84 graphing calculator required.

Advanced US History

What defines the American story? This course will explore key themes that recur throughout American history from colonization through Reconstruction, emphasizing historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualization, and argumentation. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources, craft evidence-based essays, and build the foundation needed for success in advanced U.S. History courses.

Advanced Biology

Advanced Psychology

Why do we think, feel, and act the way we do? This course will introduce major psychological concepts, including brain structure and function, learning, memory, and behavior. Students will design and interpret simple experiments, apply psychological principles to real-world situations, and build the critical thinking skills needed for advanced work in psychology and neuroscience.

Advanced Classes Faculty

Virge Cornelius - Calculus and Statistics

Virge Cornelius - Calculus and Statistics

Originally from New York City, Virge Cornelius has taught for the bulk of her 36 year career in Oxford, Mississippi, home of the University of Mississippi. She realized she wanted to be a high school teacher while working as a residential advisor at Wolfeboro Camp School back in the 1980s! Because she believes anyone can do math, she has success with a variety of students from the hesitant learners to the academically motivated. Virge has been associated with the College Board for nearly three decades in the scoring of Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus exams. She has been a reader, a table leader, a question leader, and most recently an exam leader. Virge’s high school students for both AP Calculus and AP Statistics out perform the state and national averages every year. During the pandemic she was one of the YouTube personalities for tens of thousands of students who reviewed with her in preparation for the AP exam. She has contributed a huge body of practice work that teachers all over the world use with their students and she frequently leads workshops for calculus teachers.

TJ Palmer - Advanced U.S. History

TJ Palmer - Advanced U.S. History

Patrick Englehardt - Advanced Biology

Patrick Englehardt - Advanced Biology

Patrick Englehardt has spent the past decade teaching including AP Biology, AP Physics 1, and AP Physics C, helping students build both deep knowledge and real-world problem-solving skills. He believes the best way to learn science is by doing it - from designing experiments and running labs to presenting findings just like real scientists. His students have conducted original research, presented at national physics conferences, and discovered how exciting science can be beyond the textbook. At Wolfeboro, he brings this same spirit of curiosity and exploration to summer learning, blending rigorous preparation with creative, hands-on labs. Whether it’s biology, physics, or beyond, students leave his classes confident, inspired, and ready to take on the challenges of advanced science courses.

Jen McCarthy - Advanced Psychology

Jen McCarthy - Advanced Psychology

Jen McCarthy has been a part of the Wolfeboro Camp School Community since 2002 when she was a residential advisor. Since 2003 she has served as a mental health consultant to the WCS and over the last two summers she has collaborated with the other school counselor to create an afternoon mindfulness and experiential learning program for the middle school students. Jen has worked as a clinical social worker at inpatient psychiatry settings, higher education counseling offices, and as a clinician at Worcester Academy. She has had a private psychotherapy practice since 2003. In her current capacity as Wellness Coordinator at Worcester Academy, Jen teaches Health and Wellness curriculum at Worcester Academy and recently added AP Psychology to her teaching repertoire. Jen has enjoyed applying the scientific attitude of curiosity, skepticism and humility to hands-on psychology learning in the classroom. Jen brings her clinical experience and creative experiential labs and projects into her teaching to support students to feel more confident and capable to take on the rigors of future advanced psychology courses.

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