Alumni: Greenhouse encouraged personal responsibility
Courtney (Baer) Green
Courtney (Baer) Green attended Greenhouse from 2005-17 and studied law at University of Chicago.
Years at Greenhouse: 2005-17
College: Wheaton College
Major: Political Science and Philosophy
Grad School: University of Chicago Law School
Employer: Judge Kness, Northern District of Illinois
Job: Law Clerk
Living in: Hyde Park (Chicago), IL
Family: Married to Richard
I would say that Greenhouse was a very good experience overall. I made a lot of great friends and felt that Greenhouse provided a fun and low-stress learning environment. This helped me develop a positive relationship with academic work and kept me from burning out in early college.
Activities like the play and the fall performance were also something I really enjoyed, and which made me more comfortable with public speaking and performance. As for Rhetoric, the program really improved my writing skills, both in terms of overall quality and getting me comfortable with writing long papers. It also taught me to read efficiently and “triage” more vs. less important work, a skill that was very important when I had a lot on my plate in law school and college. The public speaking component was very helpful as well.
The Christ-centered curriculum at Greenhouse is also very well-done, because it teaches students to grow in their faith while also encouraging critical thinking rather than trying to indoctrinate them. I felt that most of my teachers led by example and I admired their strong faith and the kindness that they showed us.
Greenhouse also does a good job of giving students increased responsibility as they age, whether through the buddy system, the play, or just how classes are taught by emphasizing independence and personal responsibility more as you get into middle school and high school.
–Courtney (Baer) Green