Baylor's core curriculum provides an excellent foundation
for students in arts, sciences, mathematics, and humanities.
But one of the strengths of our curriculum is that these
major academic disciplines are further enriched with a
number of special programs that provide students with even
more challenges and opportunities.
Round Table
Since its founding in 1942, Baylor's prestigious literary
discussion group has emphasized independent thought and
lively debate. To be selected to Baylor's Round Table is
among the school's highest honors. The students (all seniors)
are chosen through an application process by virtue of their
achievements in the classroom. Click here to visit the Round Table student club website.
Inner Circle
When the screen goes dark and the lights come up following a
gathering of Baylor's Inner Circle, Pete Robinson usually gets
the film appreciation group's discussion going with a question
about a particular scene or by sharing a behind-the-scenes fact.
The subsequent discussion among the students is inevitably
lively and enriching, but there's much more to it than that.
Students who analyze film at such depth have found that it
has an effect on their ability to analyze literature, physics,
and other disciplines. Membership is limited to 25 students
who are nominated by the current membership at the school
year's closing meeting. The qualifications? How much you
love film, and how much you are willing to discuss and analyze film.
Memorization & Recitation
Baylor's English Department believes that public speaking is a
critical part of developing students' rhetorical skills, so when
our students enter the Upper School, there are several opportunities
to refine and demonstrate oratory. We hold a series of grade-wide
contests each spring and award prizes for the winner and runner-up
in each. Also, the students' names are engraved on a plaque in the
library. The entire freshman
class is involved in a poetry recitation contest. Similarly, all
tenth grade students participate in a persuasive speech contest.
In their junior year students are required to select
a poem by an American poet, memorize it and give an interpretive
recitation. Seniors participate in the Shakespeare monologue
competition, the winner representing Baylor in the city-wide
competition sponsored by the English-Speaking Union. In the past,
we have had two students go on to compete in the national contest
in New York City.
Form and Function
Students in Pete Robinson's Form and Function class are introduced
to the art of woodworking and actually put what they learn to
practice by contracting building projects for the Baylor community.
All work is done from measured drawings, giving students a working
knowledge of architectural standards and an understanding of the
process from a working drawing to the finished piece.
Acting for Production
Experienced actors who want to work in an ensemble usually wind up
in Baylor's advanced acting class. Once there, they follow a long
line of aspiring actors before them, practicing "One-Acts" in the
quad. These much anticipated One-Act plays are a series of
self-directed plays that are eventually presented in the Roddy
Performing Arts Center and count as the final project of the course.
Lake Winnepesaukah
In 1975, Dr. George Taylor led a group of Baylor students to Six
Flags over Georgia to observe the rides and apply concepts of physics.
Although Six Flags now publicizes the idea of using an amusement park
as an extended classroom, it was unusual in those days to see students
meandering about calculating the velocity of the Scream Machine.
Today, students go to Lake Winnepesaukah in nearby Ringgold, Ga.
Through a series of exercises at the amusement park, students make
observations of a carousel and apply their data to physics theories
they have covered in class. The trip is just one of many examples
at Baylor where the lessons learned are made more relevant
through hands-on experience.