Exemplifying the belief that excellence in high school education need not be constrained by a traditional academic curriculum, the interdisciplinary studies department is founded on the principle that a complete high school education must aspire to an exploration of the significant connections between disciplines. Why and how was it possible for the Holocaust to occur? How is our understanding of human history affected by seeing it in the context of the scientific study of the universe as a whole? How has changing scientific knowledge of anatomy informed artistic representations of the human form? In order to respond to such questions successfully, students need to integrate disciplines, combining the insights, skills, and approaches of different subjects in order to make progress. While such interdisciplinary engagement has always been important as an intellectual pursuit in its own right, there is growing evidence that in a rapidly changing, globalized environment, aptitude for and confidence with intellectual and creative synthesis are increasingly vital qualities for successful graduates. As ‘excellence’ provides the rationale for the IDS department, ‘humanity’ constitutes its fundamental content: a full appreciation of the richness and value of our shared humanity involves a creative, rigorous examination of the relationships between our arts, histories, sciences, mathematics, languages and literatures. While interdisciplinary courses should and will vary widely in terms of delivery style, subject matter, and teaching faculty, it is in its creative fostering of these qualities and this content that each interdisciplinary course finds its deepest rationale.