Friday, April 30, 2010

WAIS Students Visit Rice University's Fondren Library

published in Rice's NEWS from FONDREN, Spring 2010

High School Help at Fondren

      Students from the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program at Westchester Academy for International Studies, part of the Spring Branch Independent School District, have been coming to Fondren Library each semester since 2006 to conduct research for major writing projects. One of these, the extended essay, is researched and written over a period of two years on a topic of the student's choosing. The extended essay must be 4,000 - 4,500 words in length and is graded by an external committee from the IB organization.

      Kay Land, librarian at Westchester Academy, prepares the students thoroughly for their day at the library, so they can maximize the value of their time here. Before setting foot on the Rice campus, they have searched Fondren's online catalog and also other online databases available from their own campus. The students come prepared to locate and to work with the materials they have already identified from these searches.

      Land is enthusiastic about these visits. She said, "our kids really love coming to Rice to do research. They are amazed by the sheer number of books and I am thrilled that they are using books to do research instead of only the internet. I think we are really getting the kids prepared for college."

      Westchester Academy is one of a number of high schools that have brought classes to Fondren Library. The students find a wealth of information for their research papers and also get an opportunity to experience a bit of an advanced academic environment.

Sandi Edwards                

Head of Reference                 
Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More