If you’re considering buying a new home in Zionsville, you’re probably thinking of it as a long-term decision. Even if you’re a first-time home buyer with young children, or no kids – yet, you’re likely calculating the quality of education provided by the local public school system as part of the “Where should we live?” equation.
As we’ve recently noted, Zionsville Community Schools provide an excellent education. More specifically, we’ve written about the fact that Zionsville High School ranked in Newsweek’s 2014 top 1% in the country.
But what does it really mean when a school provides a great education? Does it mean that upon matriculation or graduation a student will be really good at “the three Rs” – reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic? Well, according to that old-school phrase, spelling is obviously not as important as those three disciplines.
But seriously, does a good education just include traditional scholastic studies, or is there more to it? Well, yes, there is much more to it. That’s why the public schools in Zionsville offer more than just basic scholastic studies.
For first-time home buyers, let’s take a long-term top-level view of what that means, by focusing on the type of education your children can receive at Zionsville Community High School (ZCHS).
Zionsville High School Does Provide High-Level Scholastics
The award-winning academics at ZCHS are divided into a dozen departments: Art, Athletics, Business, English, Math, P.E./Health, Performing Arts, Science, Social Studies, Special Ed., Technology, and World Languages.
Within those departments, students can enroll in Advanced Placement (AP) courses ranging from Art History to World History. Student enrollment determines which AP course are taught during a specific semester, but in the past ZCHS has offered AP courses for 21 different subjects, including Calculus, Chemistry, Chinese, Computer Science, Economics (Macro and Micro), Environmental Science, Physics, Psychology, and Statistics.
ZHCS also features a Learning Center and a Media Center, and its Counseling Department offers college planning and career/vocational planning.
To learn more about academics at ZCHS, you can download this PDF: Zionsville Community High School Course Descriptions For 2015-2016.
You can also visit this web web page for more information: ZCHS Academic Information.
ZCHS Offers Many Athletic Opportunities – GO EAGLES!
As a high school in Indiana, ZCHS naturally has popular basketball teams for boys and for girls. Because athletics is a large and important part of the school’s culture, it also has 17 other varsity athletic teams, within the Hoosier Crossroads Conference, in a dozen other sports: soccer, football, volleyball, tennis, golf, cross country, wrestling, swimming, cheerleading, baseball/softball, track & field, and lacrosse.
To learn more about the role of sports at Zionsville High School, download this PDF: Athletic Dept. Overview and Frequently Asked Questions
The Arts are Very Important at Zionsville High School
Courses in both visual arts and performing arts are offered at ZCHS. The visual art classes students can take include Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, 3D Arts, Media Arts, and Digital Design.
The Zionsville High School Performing Arts Department offers students a wide variety of courses in two areas: Band/Orchestra and Show Choirs. The ensembles available to students for showcasing their vocal talents include the Beginning Choir, the Chamber Choir, the Royalaires, and the Choralaires. For students who play a musical instrument, the available groups include the Wind Ensemble, the Symphonic Band, the Cadet Band, Brass Eagle, and the Percussion Ensemble.
The ZCHS campus includes the Zionsville Performing Arts Center, known locally as ZPAC, which is a first-class 1235 seat performance hall. ZPAC is home to productions by the school’s Performing Arts Department. Other events you might see at ZPAC include the Miss Indiana Pageant, national dance competitions, along with concerts by well-know national and international musicians and performers.
Clubs & Activities Are a Big Part of Student Life at ZCHS
At the time of this writing, Zionsville High School has 65 listings on its Clubs & Activities web page. With 65 areas of interest covered by an organized group, there is an extracurricular activity for every student at ZCHS, no matter how different or obscure his or her idea of stimulating or fun might be.
A small sampling of some of the unique school clubs and groups includes the Anime & Manga Club, Business Professionals of America, Destination Imagination, the Equestrian Club, Hogwart’s Heros, Les Femmes, Mu Alpha Theta, Project Green, Sociedad Honoria Hispanica, the Swing Dance Club, the Yoga Club, and the ZPAC Crew.
A Good Education From Any Perspective
It’s probably safe to say that most educators believe a “good education” includes teaching students to be knowledgeable in the traditional scholastic realms AND to have knowledge in as many other areas of life and culture as possible. From that perspective, it is therefore very safe to say that your children can receive a much-better-than-good education at Zionsville High School.
For more information about the education your family can receive in Zionsville, you can visit the Zionsville Community Schools website.
You might also want to take some time to read the fascinating and informative articles in the What Makes a Good Education? section of the IDEAS.TED.COM website, which explores ideas worth spreading.
