Global Programs and Studies

Menlo School’s Global Programs and Studies (GPS) inspires and empowers every student to celebrate diversity, explore and expand their interests, and to become ethical and responsible members of ever-wider communities. Through facilitating meaningful opportunities for collaborative learning and problem solving, the Menlo GPS seeks to develop the competencies and compassion students need to serve, lead and engage with an increasingly interconnected world.


IMMERSIVE GLOBAL TRAVEL
Global travel programs provide unique opportunities for learning and service through sustained encounters with diverse linguistic, cultural, and naturalistic environments.  

Beginning in Middle School, students have an opportunity to experience local cultures firsthand, with immersive summer programs led by experienced faculty.

The Upper School's Knight School week fosters joy in learning and engagement, and honors student interest and initiative by providing global experiences and opportunities that may not routinely exist in the Menlo School curricula. Each year Knight School offers a menu of compelling travel opportunities to diverse locales around the world. Students can explore language, culture, history, archeology, and the environment in structured learning and living programs in countries including China, Japan, Greece and Turkey, Italy, Mexico, Guadalupe, and Panama.

This year's Knight School week features immersive courses in eight foreign countries. Three of these courses, Botswana, Nicaragua and Panama, are designated as Global Programs and Studies courses because they address one or more global issues through community service and are led to significant degree by student initiative. The GPS designation allows these courses access to funding support from the GPS program.

CURRICULUM
Menlo School’s academic program exposes students to disciplines and perspectives on the wider world. The following Middle and Upper School courses have particular focus on global education.

Foreign Languages	Other Courses
French	Ancient Greece	Ideology
Japanese	Ancient Rome	Learning to Look: 19th-21st Century Western Art
Latin	Art of World Cultures	Modern Middle East
Mandarin	Asian Studies	Modern World History
Spanish	British Literature	Russian Authors
	Environmental Science	World History
	Global Issues for Global Citizens	World Religions
	Humanities

In the Upper School, Menlo also offers a Global Scholar Certificate of Concentration and Commitment, similar to a college concentration, to acknowledge students who have made a serious commitment to the study of global affairs and citizenship. Read about details and requirements.

STUDENT EXCHANGE
Menlo annually sends students abroad and hosts two dozen students from seven to 10 countries for lengths of stay varying from a few days to a full school year. Exchange students live with Menlo host families and often participate in regular classes, arts programs and even athletics. They offer Menlo students the opportunity to learn from diverse perspectives, to form friendships with people far afield, and to lay the basis for reciprocal travel opportunities.

PARTNERSHIPS
Read about our Japan, Taiwan and Singapore visits here (PDF).

Menlo School becomes a founding member of the SAGE Alliance as the only school from North America.

Partner School	Country
High School Affiliated to Fudan University	China
Hwa Chong Institution	Singapore
Nanyang Girls High School	Singapore
RDFZ Xishan School	China
School of Science and Technology	Singapore
Scotch College	Melbourne, Australia
Shanghai #3 Girls High School	China
The Affilliated High School of Peking University	China
The Perse School	United Kingdom
Doshisha International School	Japan
Villa Maria School	Chile
Kantonschulle Enge	Switzerland
Maru a Pula	Botswana
Xinghai Experimental Middle School	China
Tsai Hsing School	Taiwan
Yan Ping High School	Taiwan
Nehru High School	Taiwan

 

SPEAKERS
Menlo GPS regularly showcases inspiring speakers who have had experience working in International careers, issues or projects to expose students to a diverse array of perspectives and opportunities. Past outside speakers at Menlo have included former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, discussing international affairs and public service, and R. James Woolsey, the climate change activist and former Director of the CIA, discussing foreign service and environmental activism.

 

Menlo School 10th grade students, along with student visitors from partner school Nanyang Girls High School in Singapore, held a community service day at InnVision’s Georgia Travis Center in San Jose on Thursday, Nov.15. All sophomore classes were suspended for a day so that students could prepare and serve a Thanksgiving meal for the clients, in addition to beautifying the center by sorting and organizing donated clothes, cleaning the center and planting outside. This "Day of Harvest" is an annual Menlo School partnership with InnVision.

 

Menlo School hosts students from Singapore's Nanyang Girls High School.

 

A Swiss exchange student at an upper school assembly, sharing her observations on differences between Swiss and American culture

 

Ten visiting students from Kantonschule Enge, Switzerland, after their presentation to the upper school assembly

 

Lynn '13 interviews Nomfuneko '13 from Botswana and Duncan '14 from China on their experiences at home and at Menlo in an event sponsored by the International Club and Multicultural clubs.

 

Mike Breen from the Truman National Security Project, presents at Menlo School.

 

Maha ElGenaidi, founder of the Islam Network Group, addresses Menlo ninth grade World Religions students in Martin Hall. The Islam Network Groupwhich aims to build bridges between American Muslims and other communities.