The VANTAGE Experience:
When asked how VANTAGE differs from the traditional high school experience, VANTAGE students talk about the sense of community, focus on critical thinking, independence, exceptional engagement, and stretching into new challenges.
- A sense of community comes from the full-year, multi-period strands where peers and teachers grow to know each other on a deeper level than is possible in single-period, half-year classes.
- Critical thinking comes from expectations for developing opinions and rationale for perspectives.
- Independence comes from making good decisions when unsupervised and from non-algorithmic problem-solving.
- Exceptional engagement is driven by working on real challenges with outside organizations where student work impacts the world. New challenges at VANTAGE include working on teams, managing adult relationships, presenting, leading peers, and operating in professional environments.
VANTAGE Students work on two major projects during the year. They manage a mentor relationship, set up monthly meetings, and develop the ability to seek coaching. VANTAGE strands bring guest instructors in to demonstrate connections between academic content and the professional world. Students visit places related to their strand theme to see the related professional world first-hand. Throughout the year, students experience events and activities designed to develop skills and confidence to drive future success.
Through the VANTAGE experience, students develop a set of critical life skills that are designed to drive success on any path:
- Teamwork
- Problem-Solving
- Effective Communication
- Leadership
- Professionalism
![Health Sciences II (VANTAGE) - New for 2026-27]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1703093950/minnetonka/vwcsyr9bayql7opbxkzw/VANTAGEHealthSciences2V2.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1703093950/minnetonka/vwcsyr9bayql7opbxkzw/VANTAGEHealthSciences2V2.png","width":400}])
![International Relations]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1703094765/minnetonka/lbqfmgtwjja8rgne1c1e/VANTAGEInternationalRelations.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1703094765/minnetonka/lbqfmgtwjja8rgne1c1e/VANTAGEInternationalRelations.png","width":400}])
![Capitol Building]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1767203529/minnetonka/g7aiiinnmc3a3vrmxgmr/VANTAGEPublicPolicy.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1767203529/minnetonka/g7aiiinnmc3a3vrmxgmr/VANTAGEPublicPolicy.jpg","width":400}])
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![VANTAGE Education (VANTAGE)]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1639684135/minnetonka/qwzjf9qcwwdpsjmnxm7i/VANTAGEEducation.png","width":256}])
![VANTAGE Fashion (VANTAGE) - Updated for 2026-27]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1734634787/minnetonka/fwxqfhemmw7d8rsm6ekp/VANTAGEFashion.png","width":256}])
