High School

Students receive encouragement to pursue excellence in the arts, sports and academics (often simultaneously!) within the context of finding deeper meaning in life through faith.

Curriculum: Bethany provides courses that allow students to graduate with the standard Indiana Core 40 diploma or an Indiana Academic Honors diploma. We offer eight Advanced Placement courses eligible for college credit and four dual-credit courses in which students can receive both high school and college credit. Students may choose from elective courses in areas such as Bible, Spanish, art, music, science, technology, family and consumer science, phys ed and health.

Bethany integrates faith development with academic excellence, urging students to seek a faith they can own. Grounded in Anabaptist-Mennonite values, Bethany weaves faith exploration into curriculum and throughout the whole Bethany experience—in class, on the court or stage, through one-to-one advisory, and in chapels.

Dual Credit and Advanced Placement Courses: Sophomores, juniors and seniors may also get a headstart on college, earning college credit while still in high school. Bethany offers four dual-credit courses in which students can receive both high school and college credit: Chemistry II, Psychology, English Literature and Composition, and English Language and Composition. Bethany offers an additional eight Advanced Placement courses in which students may earn college credits based on an end-of-course exam: AP Calculus, AP English Literature and Composition, AP English Language and Composition, AP 2D Art, AP 3D Art, AP Drawing, AP Computer Science, and AP United States Government and Politics.

Advisory: A close community with strong teacher-student relationships has long been a Bethany distinctive. In this mentoring-style program, each student is paired with a faculty member and placed in grade-level groups. Advisory groups meet each week to discuss topics that are relevant to understanding themselves, others, and the world around them. Every two weeks, students meet one-on-one with their faculty advisor to talk about academic progress, relationships at school, faith, extracurriculars, college options, and so on. The underlying goal of our advisory program is to support each student’s learning and growth, while also forming personal connections that often last far beyond high school.

Chapel: Chapel for high school students is held two days each week. This dedicated time allows our community to come together to share our stories, sing, be inspired and challenged in our faith, and learn more about the broader world through celebrations such as Christian holidays and events in the liturgical calendar, Hispanic Heritage Month, Indigenous Peoples Day, Earth Day, and more.

Interterm: Students in grades 9-12 participate in unique experiential-learning courses of their choice up to 4 times per year. Recent interterm offerings for high school students have included service work, local boating, rockets and drones, printmaking, basketball referee school, international cuisine, and ukulele.

Fall Day Away: Each high school class spends a “day away” with their class advisors, welcoming new students who may have joined their class, reflecting on their class dynamics, and participating in activities to promote deeper relationships. “Day away” outings have taken students to Camp Mack, local parks, canoeing down the Elkhart River, or hanging out at student’s homes. Activities can include devotions, zip lines and ropes courses, swimming, team games, and more.

Annual Servanthood Day: At the start of each school year, high school students deepen their relationships with each other and the community by volunteering a full day at various organizations throughout Elkhart county. Advisory groups led by teachers and staff have served at Boys & Girls Club, Pathways Retreat Center, Wellfield Botanic Gardens, The Window, Starfish Project, Amigo Centre, and more.

Cadet Teaching: Junior and senior students have the opportunity to earn academic credit while providing hands-on assistance in classrooms for grades 1-6. Cadet teachers assist students in their learning activities, provide supplemental instruction, and eventually do some classroom teaching under the direction of the lead teachers for each grade level.

Job Shadowing and Career Counseling (grade 12): During two days in October, seniors explore a vocation of their choice by shadowing adult professionals at their work. Seniors gain insight into career options as they prepare to enter the work force or college. Job shadowing placements have included optometry, teaching, dietetics, daycare, newspaper photography, and golf shop management. Students have access to Bethany’s site license to Bridges.com, an excellent site for career exploration that matches student interests and aptitudes with different careers, majors in college, and much more. Additionally, representatives of more than two dozen colleges visit our campus each year to provide information about their colleges.

Preparation for College: Colleges have come to expect Bethany graduates to be among those who are best-prepared for the rigors of college study. Bethany graduates are accepted into many top universities and liberal arts colleges, such as the University of Notre Dame, Harvard, Hamilton College, Rose-Hulman Institute, Bryn Mawr, Vassar, and Williams College.