| ABOUT US President's Message Program Elements Our Philosophy The WISE Organization | Message from the President In 1991, Andrew Courtney and I retired from Woodlands High School. We had founded the Woodlands Individualized Senior Experience in 1973 and were excited by the thousands of projects we saw. Sure that other schools would be interested in beginning their own programs, we started WISE Services. The first WISE Services conference for interested schools was held in May of 1992 and WISE Services helped Scarsdale, Croton-Harmon, and Mamaroneck design and implement senior project programs for their high schools in the spring of 1993. Fifteen years later, more than 80 diverse high schools across the nation have become part of the WISE consortium. Since the program began, over 25,000 seniors have completed WISE projects! Our work with so many different high schools has reinforced our initial understanding about the major strengths of WISE. There is a desperate need - yes, a readiness - for structured and supportive transition from school to college and work. For seniors, this transition looms as frightening and inviting, but, most importantly, real. It is not an exercise or a simulation. This need creates an opportunity for extensive collaboration, through a local Task Force composed of students, teachers, parents, and community members, in designing and implementing interest-driven projects for seniors of all abilities. This task force collaboration educates and empowers all participants. A one-year exploration, planning, and implementation schedule keeps enthusiasm and motivation high and an ongoing governance and assessment framework sustains and improves the program. In January, 2004 Woodlands celebrated 30 years of WISE and Scarsdale, Croton Harmon, and New Rochelle High Schools celebrated their first ten years of WISE. The sense of family was palpable. Graduates, current seniors, mentors, parents, and community members exchanged ideas, experiences, problems, and suggestions for change and improvement. As I looked out at close to 300 WISE folk of all ages, races, and ethnicity my heart was filled with joy. The parents, sons, and daughters of WISE had come from all over the country to celebrate and validate the importance of the program in their lives and to support the growth of the WISE Individualized Senior Experience for future generations. |