High School
Choice and Challenge: The High School Years
Who am I? What do I do well?
The most satisfying answers come when students can test their strengths, explore new skills, pursue passions — inside and outside the classroom — and take risks.
Beginning to making their mark in the world
With a variety of stimulating paths related to academics, arts, athletics and service, High School students exercise choice, guided by faculty and energized by fellow students who make the journey to graduation unforgettable. Nurturing the gifts of each student is the centerpiece of a Paideia education, and the High School years cultivate accomplished, confident young people passionately pursuing their goals.
Ready & Set!
A well-rounded, rigorous curriculum prepares students for demanding college studies with extensive offerings in English, social sciences, mathematics, modern languages, sciences, art, music and drama. The combination of stimulating course material, dynamic faculty and engaged peers gets minds humming.
The variety of classes includes AP offerings in biology, chemistry, physics, calculus and statistics. Paideia designs seminars that challenge students beyond AP criteria — courses based on faculty expertise and student interest. The curriculum also offers theme courses that build skills and confidence in a particular area.
The long lessons of short-term
In addition to two semesters, there are two short-terms a year: one in January and the other in May. During the three and a half weeks of each short-term, students take shorter topical courses that dial them into exciting areas that might be part of broader discussions in the worlds of business, science, the arts, technology or education. The makeup of these special topics emerges as a response to student and faculty interests and often results in students co-teaching — a definite point of distinction on any college application.
Support Now and for the Future
Engaged advisers
Creating a critical support structure, a faculty member and administrator meet weekly with the same small group of 8-12 High School students. These advisors look out for the students in all aspects of their Paideia lives.
College Counseling
The care and attention Paideia gives to student development is especially evident during their junior year, when students are at the center of a thoughtful, flexible college counseling program whose goals transcend college achievement, emphasizing that the best formula for a full life is to embark on a never-ending, joyful learning journey.
2024 Graduating Class
17%
of students were National Merit honorees
199 • 68
99% of the graduating class were accepted to 199 institutions, enrolling in 68 different colleges and universities.
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What moves you? The paths are many.
Nationally recognized music and art programs, competitive athletic teams, leadership organizations and clubs competing at state and national levels offer abundant options for High School students to find their place and voice.
Travel
We often understand ourselves and our communities better through distance. At Paideia, a robust travel program is built around the idea of using excursions for active learning.
Where students go is a testimony to the curriculum’s diversity and an expression of the passions of faculty and students. Model UN teams have brought their impressive diplomacy skills to be tested in places like New York City and Chicago; our sports teams travel the country for tournaments; and our robotics competitors annually look forward to vibrant challenge in several national contests.
In 2025-26, the school again casts a deliberately wide travel net, including a French-immersion trip to Quebec City; a Spanish-immersion trip to Buenos Aires; travel to India; an examination of global public health in Thailand; and a trip to the Galápagos Islands that will explore advanced biology. Students of live theater will see the most famous footlights in the world during a five-day tour of Broadway, and a trip to the nation’s capital will explore Black history, including the National Museum of Black History and Culture.
Clubs
Illuminating every aspect of life at Paideia, more than 40 student-run clubs provide ample choice, with new ones popping up every year. They run the gamut from academic and interest-based groups to affinity and service clubs. If you want to join the staff of a publication, contribute to a community project, be part of a leadership group or explore a shared experience with your classmates, there’s an organization for you.
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Chill — You’ve earned it
Senior term allows students to close out the many chapters of their Paideia experience with a bang. They spend their final weeks in high-spirited community while acquiring important navigation tips — managing their finances, living on campus and other life skills — for the road ahead.
Alumni Expertise
Alumni drop by to lecture about their fields of expertise, a reminder of the extensive network supporting the school’s new graduates. Students learn more about topics such as managing their finances, living on campus and other life skills.
Graduation
Famously cap-less and gown-less, Paideia’s graduation is like none other, offering students ample opportunity to express their identities and honor their classmates. Every laugh and tear on this occasion — and there are many — is a reminder that Paideia students bring their whole selves to all they do. Graduation brings that joy full circle and showcases the strong bonds that live on when the auditorium empties.