Palma is proud to offer a well designed, diverse, and
challenging curriculum that is intended to prepare students to excel across all
disciplines.
Students are taught to think critically, communicate effectively,
and to write powerfully. Our engaging faculty calls students to draw on their
educational foundation in order to reach beyond minimum requirements, and truly
challenge their hearts and minds. Palma combines classical liberal arts
education with cutting edge technology to prepare our students to meet the
variety of challenges they will face as university students and beyond.
Our Focus
Palma encourages students to choose from a variety of
curricular paths in order to best meet their individual abilities. However, all
courses offered, no matter what curricular path, meet or exceed the admission
requirements for both public and private universities nationwide, including the
University of California. Every year it is our goal for 100% of our seniors to
attend college. In order to meet this challenge in an increasingly competitive
admission climate, Palma emphasizes a strong foundation in liberal arts and the
sciences, while also offering a broad range of electives that cater to a young
man’s creative and innovative nature.
Our Faculty
Palma’s faculty is comprised of highly skilled and devoted
educators who are dedicated to continuing the mission Blessed Edmund Rice, and to
the principals of spirituality, charity, and compassion that Edmund Rice
extolled as an educator and as a man. Every faculty member understands the
vital role they have in shaping the hearts and minds of each student, preparing
them for the challenges they are sure to face as college students, and as
global citizens. Our faculty is comprised of passionate educators who are
experts in their fields of study. Students experience, in small class sizes,
the difference that a captivating educator undoubtedly makes in their own
passion for their studies as the individual attention and focus of a teacher
allows each student to find success.
AP and Honors Courses
Students are encouraged to
challenge themselves in their course selection, and for those students who seek
a more rigorous course of study, Palma offers Honors and AP classes in English,
social studies, mathematics, science, and foreign language. Freshman and
sophomore students are placed in honors courses based on their grades, test
scores, and teacher recommendation. Upperclassmen who have participated in
honors courses are permitted to elect their own advanced placement courses
according to their academic performance and college goals. Palma offers over 20 honors courses and 10 advanced placement courses to its students.