Signature Opportunities
Learning Across the Academy
Big opportunities start early.
At Bay View, students don't have to wait until Upper School to experience all that the Academy has to offer.
Beginning in Preschool, students grow within a PreK–12 community where opportunities expand alongside them. Younger students experience science and STEM, visual and performing arts, athletics, service, Mercy traditions, clubs and activities, and moments of learning that connect them with students and educators beyond their own classrooms.
As they move into Middle School, students gain greater independence and new opportunities to explore their interests, take on leadership, participate in athletics and the arts, and engage with the wider Academy. Beginning in Grade 6, for example, students participate in Tea Talks, meeting accomplished women whose careers and life experiences introduce them to possibilities for their own futures.
Being part of one Academy also means younger students can see where their own journeys might lead. They watch older students perform, compete, conduct research, serve, lead, and celebrate traditions—and, year by year, step into those opportunities themselves.
At Bay View, she doesn't have to wait to discover what's possible. She grows up surrounded by it.
Pursue Your Passions
With an expansive curriculum and strong academic support systems, students are encouraged to follow their interests wherever they may lead. Exposure to all academic subjects and possibilities begins in Lower School. As they move through our divisions, project and club opportunities expand. Service and enrichment are always encouraged and are illustrated in WIN (What I Need) Time, Upper School Mercy Projects, and Grade 12's School to Career program.
If a student is aware of her interest in Public Health & Life Sciences or Performing or Visual Arts, they are encouraged to consider one of our Scholar programs as they enter Upper School.
Mercy Projects
Don't just learn about Mercy. Live it.
Service at Bay View develops as students do.
In Grades 9 and 10, students complete 20 hours of independent direct service, with an emphasis on person-centered experiences such as working with children, coaching youth, serving meals, or supporting parish and community programs.
Then the experience becomes increasingly student-driven.
During Grade 11, students work with one or two classmates to identify a local, national, or global issue connected to the Mercy Critical Concerns. They develop a project that directly responds to the issue, put their plan into action, and educate their classmates about both the challenge and their response.
The possibilities are intentionally broad. Students might address environmental sustainability, hunger, homelessness, education, immigration, women's issues, nonviolence, or another area connected to the Mercy Critical Concerns.
The purpose is not simply to accumulate service hours.
The Mercy Project asks each student to consider what it means to become a young woman of Mercy—someone willing to recognize a need and use her own abilities to respond.
She can turn compassion into action.
Prepare for the World
Through service trips and cultural immersion experiences, students step beyond the classroom to engage with new communities, perspectives, and ways of life. These experiences build cultural awareness, empathy, independence, and a deeper understanding of their place in the world.
An Education Meant to Be Experienced
These opportunities may take a Bay View student into many difference spaces, but the purpose is the same:
To give students opportunities to do something meaningful with what they are learning.