Leadership and Critical Thinking (One year course for Grades 9 and new students in 10-12)
This course is concerned with developing the basic skills necessary to participate fully in the CHA community and will prepare students to participate in any community. Participation requires: 1) being able to take advantage of the resources that a community has to offer and 2) contributing one’s own talents which are resources to the community and 3) taking responsibility for one’s choices. During this course, students will learn congruence – the ability to state clearly and precisely their own experience, beliefs, ideas, thoughts, feelings and opinions; empathy – the ability to enter another person’s point of view and experience in order to genuinely understand them; unconditional positive regard – the ability to suspend personal judgments and to treasure especially the conflicts our differences cause and to recognize the personal value those differences contribute.

Basic Group Encounter for Seniors (All day Workshop, one each semester. Required for graduation. Prerequisite Beginning Leadership)
Students deepen their critical thinking skills and focus on applying congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard to preparing for the transition from high school to college and careers. They will make commitments each to himself/herself, to each other and to CHA for the manner in which they will transition. Students will use basic group encounter to increase their ability to participate, influence others and take personal responsibility.