This intensive project-based learning program offers Grades 9 and 10 high school students unique hands-on learning experiences under the guidance of faculty and professional mentors in leading industries. Students develop new skills, gain industry insights and build networks, giving them invaluable experience as they prepare for the final years of high school and their career paths.
Unlike an internship or an organizational affiliation, the program is fully integrated into the American high school curriculum and is part of the course credits for Grades 9 and 10 students. Each collaboration results in a culminating project showcased and reflected in quarterly progress reports.
The Cornerstones Program is designed to challenge students to become future-ready. By exploring passions and developing critical thinking skills in real-world contexts, students are better informed in course selections for Grades 11 and 12 and prepared well for the three high school graduating pathways, including the rigorous IBDP. The culminating project helps them stand out in their university applications, positioning them ahead of their peers and equipping them with essential skills that will last a lifetime.
Stamford American School Hong Kong
Cornerstones Program
Hands-On, Real Life Experiential Learning
Stamford Cornerstones Program
2022/2023 Cornerstones Program Information
Stamford proudly presents 10 projects with distinct focuses that reflect students’ ambitions and strengths: architecture, future-focused design thinking, e-commerce entrepreneurship, game design, finance industry, film making, biotechnology, food and beverage industry, engineering and visual art.
Focus on Architecture
A Collaboration with Own Academy & Enzyme
Let’s put on the creative hardhats and learn about the many facets of being an architect! This architecture course will introduce you to the fundamentals of architecture, the steps to conceptualize and design a building from ground- zero, and the skills it takes to manage a project and a client. You will be challenged to create, showcase and critiqe a 3D model for a project, and will also visit an interior design firm and join site visits to learn about urban planning.
Focus on Design Thinking for the Future
A Collaboration with Flux Compass
We are living in an ever-changing world that requires us to be agile and anticipate and design solutions for the distant future. This calls for knowledge and access to the right tools and methodologies. This design thinking course will introduce you to techniques such as future trends analysis, scenario planning, human-centered design thinking, rapid prototyping, futures fiction and performance, and media campaigns and communications so that you can use your imaginations to explore multiple possible future realities, think about the world you want to live in, and take action to shape it.
Focus on E-commerce Entrepreneurship
A Collaboration with Own Academy & Mazu Concepts Limited
Experience what it is like to be an entrepreneur and create your own e-commerce business. This e-commerce entrepreneurship course will introduce you to the end-to-end process of how to build a business in the digital age, starting from researching, sourcing and creating your own product, building a brand, to strategy to marketing to execution.
Focus on Game Design
A Collaboration with Own Academy & Press Start Hong Kong
Board game publishing has been around for decades and still thrives in the digital era. By going digital, it has evolved with market demands and has transformed player behaviors. This game design course challenges you to design your very own digital board game prototype. You will visit different game design companies, discover how game publishing works, explore the game design cycle, and pitch and present a demo for your own game to veteran game designers.
Focus on Engineering - 3D Modelling and Design Challenge (Designed & developed by HKUST School of Engineering)
A Collaboration with Tram Plus
Are you ready for professional engineering? Join this course to reimagine and create the next generation of tram cars that serve the need of our evolving city! You will be challenged with a partly defined problem and constraints, and through hands-on studio interactions, you will follow the engineering design process and build on existing STEMinn knowledge to ideate and construct prototypes, develop potential alternatives, select a solution, assess the results, and refine your solution. You will learn to use industry-level software, while guided and supported by senior year university engineering students.
Focus on Finance Industry
A Collaboration with Own Academy
Jobs in the financial sector are highly sought after as they can be lucrative. However, with high demand comes challenging entry qualifications. Led by expert industry mentor with about 20 years of experience in the finance sector specializes in securities dealing and asset & wealth management in Taipei, New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore, this course will help you understand how the finance sector works within global economies and open your eyes to the different possible career pathways.
Focus on Visual Art (Ceramics and Painting)
A Collaboration with Hong Kong Art School
Do you have a passion for the arts? Let your imagination run wild as you create and showcase your own ceramics and paintings under the guidance of the renowned Hong Kong Art School, a division of the Hong Kong Arts Centre. This hands-on short course introduces you to the world of ceramics and watercolor painting, while you will learn about the properties of materials and practice the skills and techniques required. Once you get a taste of these two timeless art forms, you will then go on to create a masterpiece with the art form of your choice to present in an exciting mini-exhibition.
Focus on Film Making
A Collaboration with Own Academy & EuCan Productions
Have you ever wondered how they shot that really cool movie scene and thought – “huh, maybe I can do that too!”? Indeed, “EuCan”! In this course, students will be guided by award-winning film making Eugene Chan and experience how to create a film or video from start to finish, from conceptualization to production.
Focus on Food and Beverage Industry
A Collaboration with Test Kitchen
Fancy starting your own restaurant? It takes more than a Master Chef experience to make this entrepreneurial dream comes true. The Test Kitchen team will take you on a journey of opening your restaurant from developing the Idea, to building the right team, location scouting, managing basic finances, research & development, marketing & PR, and the operations & launch! You will meet chefs and restauranteurs to hear their stories and passions for choosing hospitality as vocation, and what inspires them to do so.
Focus on Biotechnology
A Collaboration with Own Academy
Biology, genes, proteins, viruses are some concepts we’re all familiar with. But if you’ve ever wondered about their application outside of the classroom and are interested in exploring a career in this field, this course will help you see the value of science beyond school.
In this course, you’ll dive into the microscopic world of biology and explore its various practical and real-life applications. Be ready to answer fundamental questions revolving around key ‘life’ processes at the molecular level, conduct research and experiments to understand how DNA, RNA, and proteins function and organize themselves to form complex machineries that ultimately allow cells to perform their unique functions. This encompasses not only basic biological processes but also diseases that may occur when these ‘go wrong’.
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