Students learn to think more deeply about fundamental questions, to discover the sources of their own preconceived ideas, and to critically evaluate them by encountering these questions in the great tradition of human arts and letters that has shaped our civilization. Every discovery and every human achievement started with someone’s curiosity, imagination, struggle, or good fortune. From Beowulf to mapmaking, from the sculptures of Trajan’s column to the expansion of the universe, SJI’s curriculum immerses students in literature, art, history, mathematics, and natural philosophy. By studying the works of great thinkers, writers, and artists through guided seminars, hands-on activities, and adventure days in the field, we retrace the steps of discovery and put these achievements back into their context. Students begin to understand history not simply as a series of happenstance events, but as a unified story, and to find their own place within it.
