Sharing Our Stories

Bellevue Big Picture offers something you rarely find in traditional schools: an opportunity for students to explore who they are while building practical skills from day one. The small school setting and caring staff ensure each student is known, supported, and challenged in meaningful ways. Whether naturally shy, highly motivated, or still finding their path, students develop through team projects, presentations, interest-aligned internships, and one-on-one guidance from advisors. 

For students ready for more academic challenge, starting in 11th grade, Bellevue Big Picture offers the option to participate in the Running Start program—allowing them to earn college credits and gain college experience while continuing to build real-world skills through hands-on learning. 

Bellevue Big Picture is a public school, but the level of individual support and opportunity feels like private education—without the cost. As a parent, I’m deeply grateful for all that Big Picture has done for my children. It has helped them become confident, capable young adults, and our family is thankful every day for this school and community. 

I feel like one of my defining traits as a parent is wanting to support my children in owning and achieving their life goals; finding a learning environment in which they could thrive has always been important to me. The elementary years took us a few different directions, including our local elementary school and independent home school, but our path ultimately led to the Bellevue Big Picture School. Here my kids have been able to experience:

-collaboration with peers and mentors  
opportunities to pursue independent projects 
-career-focused learning through internships 
-a community where differences are valued and celebrated, not merely tolerated 

I've loved volunteering both in the classrooms and with the PTSA - it's great to be involved in the community and see how the staff, students, and families work together and grow together. My kids love the school, and we look forward to staying here for this part of their educational journey. 

We are happy to be in Bellevue because of the innovative educational opportunities that make Bellevue School District unique — including the integration of Computer Science into our science classes. My daughter's favorite part of 8th grade science was the opportunity to learn how to use computer modeling to explore magnetism, including understanding conditional variables. The Bellevue Schools Foundation has been the key funding partner allowing Bellevue to offer relevant learning opportunities like these to every one of our students, ensuring they have the educational foundations to succeed in whatever they do.

See 2023-2024 BSF investments at Big Picture School and districtwide. 

The small school environment means I can greet most students by name. It also allows staff members to know students and families in ways that would be impossible at a larger school.

 I think the biggest thing about Big Picture that really boosted me into my post-undergraduate career was the LTI internship program. If you’re willing to put your best foot forward, the internship program will seriously benefit you throughout college and even after. Employers love to see candidates who have shown long-time interest and commitment to their field of interest, and the LTI program is the perfect way to do that — it’s not every day that a newly graduated college student comes to an interview with multiple internships and professional references. I think the people who are most successful at Big Picture are the people who aren’t afraid to be themselves, the people who are visionaries, and the people who are willing to put in the work to achieve amazing things. I give so much credit to Big Picture for my after-college success.

The community at this school has helped me to grow out of my shell and build relationships that will last beyond high school.

The internship program at this school enabled me to have opportunities in my field of interest that I would have never dreamed of.