Aquinas Honors Program

The Aquinas Honors Program is available to students seeking rigorous academic challenges, including coursework in designated honors, Advanced Placement, and dual credit classes. Each year, students engage in the course selection process where they discern which classes they would like to take the following school year. Over four years of study, students may take advanced coursework in various academic subjects, including Fine Arts, English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Theology, and World Languages.

Highly motivated students who complete at least 12 of their 28 required credits in courses designated as honors, Advanced Placement, or dual credit classes will be recognized as Aquinas Scholars. Students who take 16+ credits designated as honors, Advanced Placement, or dual credit classes will be recognized as Aquinas Scholars with Distinction. These designations will be noted after the first semester of a student's senior year. Additional recognition will occur at graduation, where students will wear special medals to designate that they have earned this designation as an Aquinas Scholar or an Aquinas Scholar with Distinction.

Frassati Scholars

Kennedy Catholic High School's spiritual patron, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, is known for the motto: "To the heights!" Our Frassati Scholars Program asks students to stretch themselves "to the heights" of their educational experience here at Kennedy Catholic.

The Frassati Scholars Program will require students to pursue the coursework necessary to qualify as an Aquinas Scholar at graduation, along with two distinct classes taken as a cohort:

• AP Seminar (Grade 10, English course)
• AP Research (Grade 12, Independent Study course/elective)

Frassati Scholars must also intentionally consider an issue, topic, or injustice they want to learn more about and align their Integrated Service-Learning Experience (ISLE) with that topic. AP Research will require the students to integrate their academic learnings (skills gained in their AP Seminar course) with their lived experience (ISLE service hours) to address the issue through their AP Research project, which will be presented to the community in the spring of their senior year.

Participation in the Frassati Scholars Program is determined by a student application after the first semester of ninth grade or by faculty nomination. Applications are reviewed by a panel of teachers and administrators, after which a cohort of 15-22 students are selected to participate in the program. Graduating seniors who complete all of the requirements will be awarded a special medal at graduation ceremonies.