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Humanities

Set off on a journey to explore essential questions about who you are and how you intend to act in the world.

The hallmark of an NMH education is holistic thinking and interdisciplinary discovery. Our humanities program exemplifies this approach. Through paired courses taught collaboratively by teachers from different disciplines, you’ll explore questions that help you get at the heart of your identity and your aspirations for social justice and equality.

In your first year, you’ll examine the relationship between humans and their environment through philosophical and artistic expressions. You’ll draw on personal and analytical writing, close reading, class discussions, and group projects to explore and articulate your insights about your place in the world.

As a sophomore, you'll explore the interrelated nature of history and religion on the development of human culture. You’ll analyze patterns of behavior, historical shifts, and religious themes to examine the nature, causes, and consequences of changes throughout the world. You’ll develop your writing, reading, critical thinking, speaking, and research skills through project planning, collaboration, and independent work. Underlying all this work, you’ll deepen your understanding of what it means to lead with intention. 

NMH students engage with big questions from the moment they step on campus. In Humanities I, 9th-graders contemplate four essential questions: Who am I? What is my place? What does it mean to be human? How, then, shall I live?

Sophomores can also participate in an interdisciplinary travel program. Recent destinations included South Africa, Brazil, and Spain/Morocco. Interdisciplinary electives — such as Global Ethics and Climate Change, Religion and the Performing Arts, and Interdisciplinary U.S. History and American Literature — are taught by multiple instructors who bring together disciplines to create an integrated class in our high school curriculum.