By August Walrod ‘26

Beyond taking classes, there are an abundance of extra-educational opportunities available to Catlin Gabel School (CGS) students such as college classes, local internships, research positions, or abroad programs. These opportunities allow you to try new things out in order to better understand what you are interested in, learn about a subject not taught at CGS, or receive recognition or college credit to craft a better college, job, or internship application.

All three reasons for pursuing extra-educational resources are valuable in varying ways and can help benefit your present and future self. As CGS college counselor Blythe Butler commented, though, you should begin your decision-making process of whether to take on additional opportunities by asking yourself, “Do you have the time?”

While intentional addition of depth to our learning is great, the need to add more and more often comes at the expense of enjoying the topics we began exploring because of passion. By managing your time around a couple of topics you find meaningful, you can balance your ambition with your workload.

The Advanced Placement (AP) and Global Online Academy (GOA) courses are great examples of extra-educational opportunities popular among the CGS student body. However, there are many other ways to explore your passions.

Portland Community College (PCC) offers in-person and online classes year-round. To begin, you first apply to PCC, and then, after a short wait, you will need a permission letter and a signed form from the head of the Upper School (US), Derek Kanarek.

In the summer between my junior and senior years, I took the online class Intro to Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) & Mapping Techniques, which grants 4 credits and is a part of obtaining a year-long certificate in GIS. I loved the flexibility of having weekly asynchronous work along with the application of our learning to real world situations.

*Courtesy of August Walrod ‘26. A GIS map of Portland biking infrastructure equitability designed during PCC class (black dots= bikeshare bikes, red triangles= bikeshare stations).*

I did not take this class to complete a certification, though. My intention was to introduce myself to the topic to understand whether I would be interested in pursuing GIS further during college and to make myself more qualified for internship opportunities during my college years.

PCC’s offerings also apply to people wanting to advance their learning in other fields. For a student interested in architecture, for example, taking courses like “ART101 Understanding Architecture” or the extremely specific “ARCH237 Intro to Revit Architecture” can be a great way to dive into a topic that you would like to learn more about. Taking classes like these in high school can provide you clarity about what kinds of classes you want to take in college and show your initiative to colleges.

Some opportunities are more internal to CGS, though, and can be found on the college counseling office’s list of scholarships and summer opportunities. This spreadsheet is particularly helpful for students seeking scholarships to apply for, but it also includes great summer and study-away programs.

For example it includes the business program popular among CGS students, Oregon Business Academy (OBA) and free programs like “Exposure: Elon University Emerging Journalists Program” which focuses on journalism through online classes.

While many programs are hosted far away and require students to fly to get there, Butler noted that “we're really lucky to have Portland and lots of resources right here that cost less and are pretty great.”

Another advantage of pursuing local resources is that you become more involved in your own community. This is particularly helpful for volunteer based programs like those offered by the website TeenLife.

Recommended by Butler and fellow college counselor Joanna Frady, TeenLife possess an enormous quantity of all types of opportunities, as well as a search feature to filter by location, opportunity type, and more. The website showcases opportunities relating to college & university, summer, school year and gap year programs, competition programs, and more.

Finally, the alumni office has a list of Catlin alumni professionals in a range of fields, as well as lists of internship opportunities. This can be especially helpful for seniors looking for experts to collaborate with for their senior projects, but also for students wanting to learn more about the experience of a former CGS student in a particular field.

The alumni office is currently working on making a directory of alumni resources that is available to students. In the meantime, to learn more about these opportunities, reach out to the alumni office at cgconnect@catlin.edu.

From taking summer courses at PCC to involving yourself in an internship with a CGS alumni, there are many ways to explore your interests. By starting with intentionality about why and how you add onto your current workload you can level up your learning.

OPINION: Level up your learning journey with resources that help you follow your passions