by Leslie Majkrzak ‘27

Coming soon for the 2027-2028 school year, MCPS will offer its new regional program for high schools across the county. This plan involves creating clusters of four to five high schools that are each designated a different focus area. These clusters will enable students to apply to attend any of the high schools within their cluster in order to participate in a specific pathway, versus being restricted to only what is offered at their home school. Sherwood has been combined with Paint Branch, Springbrook, and Blake to form the Eastern region. 

In particular, Sherwood was assigned the Humanities track, meaning that it will offer additional classes in English and Social Studies subjects, ranging from unique electives to humanities-oriented APs. The specific courses that will be available for incoming ninth graders in the Humanities program next year are Honors English 9-Humanities, AP U.S. Government-Humanities, and Criticism in the Humanities. According to the stated vision for the program, it will equip students with the knowledge and skills to think critically, communicate with purpose, and create meaningful solutions to complex, real‑world problems that reflect the human experience. The Humanities program also is intended to prepare students to meet challenges that require an understanding of human behavior, culture, history, and values.

“My understanding is that the humanities pathway will be built around courses already offered in Social Studies,” said AP NSL teacher Scott Allen. “There may be additional class requirements to help broaden the courses and meet specific goals of the humanities pathway, such as opportunities for cross-curricular projects between Social Studies and English topics.”

Additionally, Sherwood is designated to run an Engineering regional program while continuing its existing Project Lead The Way pathway, as well as a Chinese language option in which students with no prior background in Chinese would begin with a double period of Chinese 1 and 2 their freshman year and Chineses 3 and 4 sophomore year along with other required courses.

“Part of my job right now is organizing a fall showcase to meet with families about the new regional program,” said new Special Programs Lead Teacher at Sherwood, Cambrian Powell. The showcase will take place on October 28 for incoming eighth graders and their families from all six of the Eastern region middle schools. Current Sherwood students will be present at the open house to share their experiences at Sherwood with possible incoming students.

It is predicted that in the program’s first year, 60 students whose home school is not Sherwood will join Sherwood’s Humanities pathway. In addition, Sherwood students who are interested and meet the criteria can enroll, not counting against the program’s cap. Interested students can apply through ParentVue and will be evaluated based on application essays, performance records, and assessment scores. After two rounds of application review, students will be notified if they were selected for any of the programs they indicated interest in or applied for. 

“Being part of a Center Program will help students be successful in college courses in related fields – they will have focused on that area for four years,” said Powell. “Students can still be well-rounded and take advanced courses outside of the program theme. For current programs, no special designation is marked on their official high school transcript, but they would earn a certificate indicating completion of the higher standards, as well as test for the Seal of Biliteracy for Chinese or Autodesk Certified User Credentials for Engineering.”

Students accepted to any of the programs at high schools other than their home school must stay in that program to remain at that school. Any students who wish to leave the program may do so, but will be required to return to their home high school if it is different from the school with the program from which they disenrolled. This policy will encourage rising high school students to utilize the resources and information provided to carefully explore different options before deciding the path they want to take for their secondary school education.