Enrichment Program
District 287 has unique learning opportunities for your students! Promote lifelong learning beyond the classroom with our programs, designed to meet every learner, right where they are, and propel them along the journey of creative thinking and courageous curiosity.
Our goal is to bring the wider world of the imagination, the creative journey and the reward of trial and error to every learner. Our kids are the world’s future!
- Destination Imagination
- Fermi Math League
- Gifted Math Program
- Honors Mentor Connection
- Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO)
- West Suburban Summer School
Destination Imagination
Destination Imagination is an international 21st century learning program that encourages students to have fun, take risks, focus, and frame Challenges while incorporating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), the arts and service learning. Students build on their strengths, while learning patience, flexibility, persistence, ethics, respect for others and their ideas, project management and rapid prototyping. Teams showcase their challenge solutions at a tournament. DI encourages kids to have fun, take risks, work with others, and identify each individual’s personal strengths. Our DI Challenges are engaging, fun, and inclusive. Each student is empowered to find their place within the team and display their unique abilities and talents in ways they may never have imagined.
- Student teams of 2-7 members, up to 10 for K-2
- Divisions by age/grade: Primary (K-2), Elementary (grades 3-5), Middle (grades 6-8), and Secondary (grades 9-12)
- September – May: teams form September-January, teams compete at a tournament in March, and may advance to global finals in May.
- Contact Pamela Schroeder, pfschroeder@district287.org
Fermi Math League
FERMI Math League: Fermi Math League is an internet-based math competition appropriate for enrichment, small group work, and individuals wanting creative, technology-rich experiences. Fermi Math is process-oriented rather than “one-answer” driven. Fermi Math League is open to school districts and individual students worldwide.
- For individuals or teams
- Divisions for grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-9
- Fall, winter and spring sessions
Contact Liz Dayton, eadayton@district287.org
Winter 2025 Fermi Math Session: February 4- March 28
Registration is open!
Registration Information
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Registration can be for teams and individual learners.
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Any student may register and compete. Students can work solo or in teams of up to four. Divisions for grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, plus 7-9.
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Cost for the session is $75 per team.
Gifted Math Program
Gifted Math courses at Northern Star Online are designed for students who love math and want to accelerate their learning at the elementary and middle school level so they are prepared to take more advanced math classes in high school. Our Gifted Math courses consist of the same academic content as the corresponding courses but include additional social-emotional support elementary students traditionally need. The Gifted Math Program is a combination of online learning with regular teacher check-ins, occasional online meetings, and frequent communication to parents/guardians and counselors.
Honors Mentor Connection
How would you like to work with a professional mentor in an area of personal interest and earn high school credit at the same time? Honors Mentor Connection is a hybrid course for motivated high school students with high interest in a particular field. If you’re willing to work hard and have a topic that you’re passionate about, Honors Mentor Connection might be for you.
Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO)
Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) is a program that allows 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade students to earn both high school and college credit while still in high school, through enrollment in and successful completion of college nonsectarian courses at eligible participating postsecondary institutions. Most PSEO courses are offered on the campus of the postsecondary institution; some courses are offered online. Each participating college or university sets its own admissions requirements for enrollment into the PSEO courses. Eleventh and 12th-grade students may take PSEO courses on a full- or part-time basis; 10th graders are eligible to enroll in PSEO on a more limited basis (see note below). Students must meet the PSEO residency and eligibility requirements and abide by participation limits specified in Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.09. If a school district determines a pupil is not on track to graduate, she/he may continue to participate in PSEO on a term by term basis.
By March 1 of each year, or three weeks prior to the date a student registers for courses for the following school year (whichever is earlier), schools must provide PSEO information to all students in grades 8-11 and their families. To assist the district in planning, a student must inform the district by May 30 of each year of their intent to enroll in postsecondary courses during the following school year.
There is no charge to PSEO students for tuition, books or fees for items that are required to participate in a course; however, students may incur fees for equipment that becomes their property when the course or program is completed, textbooks that are not returned to the postsecondary institution according to their policies, or for tuition costs if they do not notify the district by May 30 and the district does not waive this date requirement.
Funds are available to help pay transportation expenses for qualifying students to participate in PSEO courses on college campuses. For more information on these funds, access the PSEO Mileage Reimbursement Program Instructions.
Enrolling in a PSEO course does not prohibit a student from participating in activities sponsored by the high school.
School districts must allow a PSEO student reasonable access to the high school building, computers and/or other technology resources during regular school hours to participate in PSEO courses, whether on-line or on campus.
Each year, districts must publish their grade-weighting policy on their website, including a list of courses for which students can earn weighted grades.
All courses taken through the PSEO program must meet graduation requirements. Districts must transcript credits earned in PSEO by a ratio prescribed in statute. Districts have the authority to decide which subject area and standards the PSEO course meets. If there is a dispute between the district and the student regarding the number of credits granted for a particular course, the student may appeal the board's decision to the commissioner. The commissioner's decision regarding the number of credits will be final.
Postsecondary institutions are required to allow PSEO students to enroll in online courses consistent with the institution’s policy regarding postsecondary student enrollment in online courses.
10th grade students may initially enroll in one Career and Technical Education (CTE) PSEO course if they receive a reading proficiency score of “meets” or “exceeds” on the 8th grade MCA. If 10th graders taking a CTE PSEO course earn at least a grade C in that class, they may take additional postsecondary courses. If the student did not take the MCA in 8th grade, another reading assessment accepted by the enrolling postsecondary institution can be substituted. For students with disabilities, there is an alternative option to demonstrate reading proficiency.
For current information about the PSEO program, visit the Minnesota Department of Education’s Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) webpage.
West Suburban Summer School
West Suburban Summer School: WSSS serves gifted and talented students who are eager to dig deeper. Instructors design enrichment classes in their area of expertise to provide students with unique experiences to challenge their abilities.
- Classes are designed for students entering grades 2-12 in the fall of the following school year.
- Five week-long sessions offered in June and July each year at schools in the western suburbs.
- Course catalog will be published early in 2025.
- Contact Liz Dayton (eadayton@district287.org) or Jodi Schleyer (jeschleyer@district287.org)