One of the goals of the Social Studies Department is to help foster a sense of community in our students. Being civic-minded means being concerned with your community, whether at the local, state, national or international level. We accomplish this in a wide variety of ways.

In the classroom:

Freshmen year students are required to take Global Studies. This class focuses on World History from the 1500s up to modern times and introduces students to the birth of modern democracy during the Enlightenment all the way through World War II and up to modern times. Students are given ample opportunity to learn about other countries in the world and to compare them to our own.
 

During their sophomore year, students take U.S. History and explore in-depth the development of our country. They are able to build on lessons learned during their freshmen year and become more aware of the geographical and political developments in the United States.

Junior students take Politics and Government. Again, they take previously-learned concepts and add to them to better understand our political system, like the United States tax code, as being taught by Erik Ramsey in the image above.  By the end of this year, they are well-equipped to begin to form their own political opinions as conscientious, informed voters for the future.

We also offer a wide array of electives in our department including Current Events, Introduction to Economics, Sociology, Psychology as well as AP Psychology, AP Macroeconomics and (starting in the 2020-21 academic year) AP Human Geography. All together, the Social Studies Department will have 5 Advanced Placement class offerings.  

Outside of the classroom:

We have a great Youth in Government tradition at Carroll. We have participated in numerous events for about the last 20 years. Also, we are excited to start a debate club this year. We have also had a strong presence in Carroll’s International Club. Finally, we have also taken several international trips to bolster our commitment to learning more about the World. These trips include a Costa Rica summit on environmental sustainability and a European trip to London, Paris, and Normandy!