I think there are a lot of interesting and original things going on in schools right now that may not be all that well known. For example, I can think of a program at a high school near where I worked where they had taken the physics 20-30 program and merged it with a program helping kids to get their pilot's licence.
Their study of physics was then applied to the work they were doing to get their pilot's licence and by the time they finished their grade 12, they had their pilot's licence. I can think of other programs for students getting credits for theatre arts. It was an integrated program, and they did it by mounting a theatre production, an actual production that people paid to see, and on a grander scale than what you might expect from a high school theatrical production.