Upper School

Academics

This is where the future begins

Years of learning lead here. This is where curiosity becomes ambition, where effort becomes achievement, and where a Highland education delivers on its promise: preparing students to thrive, lead, and serve. These are the very tools our students use to succeed at the world's best colleges and universities.

Academics are the heart of Highland. The Upper School is where that heart beats hardest.

A challenging curriculum that prepares students for the rigors of college

Highland's Upper School students take on demanding, college-preparatory academics built to stretch them and the numbers tell the story.

Of the nearly 250 students in our Upper School, 78% take at least one Honors or Advanced Placement course every year. Our core subjects, English, math, science, and history, feature writing-intensive courses designed to prepare students for exactly what college demands. And the options run deep:

Honors and AP courses across the curriculum
Independent studies for students who want to chase a passion further
Dual enrollment and online courses with area colleges, expanding what's possible

If a student can't find the perfect class, we help them build it. We believe every student deserves the chance to discover their own interests, abilities, and ambitions and we give them the room to do it.

Faculty who live the subjects they teach

Our Upper School teachers don't just know their fields. Many are working scholars, scientists, and artists who bring their own intellectual lives into the classroom. That distinction matters. Students don't just learn about a subject; they learn from people still engaged in it.

You can see it in how each department approaches its work. Click on the expanding boxes below to learn more:

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Meet Our Team

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Marjorie Kuzminski

Upper School Director
Carolyn Klares

Assistant to the Upper School Director

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English

English studies are grounded in a conviction that literature connects us to something beyond ourselves. Students learn to read critically and write with clarity and purpose. They gain valuable self-knowledge and the kind of articulate voice that serves them for life.
History

History is treated as an active discipline, not a fixed record. Students interpret, analyze, and challenge. They put historical figures on trial, role-playing key thinkers, and building the independent, metacognitive thinking skills colleges are looking for.
Mathematics

Math is taught as beauty, logic, and poetry by teachers whose own backgrounds span astronomy, physics, business, and engineering. They bring real applications to every level, from Algebra through Calculus.
Science

Science is inquiry-based and hands-on, with students moving from guided investigations to experiments they design themselves. Students build wind tunnels, rockets, and robots, and participate in field studies that take their learning well beyond campus.
World Languages

World Languages develops the cultural fluency and confidence to connect with a wider world, connecting grammar to real-life situations that resonate. We offer opportunities to host international students and to travel to destinations around the world, making language and culture come alive and feel real.
Engineering and Classical Languages

Engineeering and Classical Languages round out a curriculum that values both cutting-edge skills and the timeless intellectual foundations of a complete education.

Advanced coursework demands real attention. Our students get it

At Highland, a 7:1 student-teacher ratio and average class size of just 11 students aren't just hallmarks of a small school; they're what make serious academic work possible.

When a student is wrestling with AP Chemistry or pushing into an independent study on international law, they need a teacher who knows exactly where they are and what they need next. In our Upper School, that's the norm. Faculty know their students' ambitions, track their progress in real time, and push them further than a larger classroom ever could. The relationship between a Highland student and their teachers isn't incidental to the academic experience. It is the academic experience.

Hallmarks of a Highland education

At its core, a Highland School education is defined by key components: a supportive, joy-filled learning environment, expertly crafted and refined programs, and meaningful and memorable shared experiences. Click on the expanding boxes below to learn more about some of the hallmarks of a Highland Upper School education:

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A culture of honor and integrity

Great academics need a foundation of trust. At Highland, that foundation is the Honor Code.

Each year begins with a ceremony where students sign the Honor Code, committing to the highest standards of academic integrity and respect for people and property. It's more than a signature. It creates a visible, vibrant culture of openness, where students strive to be their best selves and character development is treated as essential to real achievement.

In a Highland classroom, integrity isn't a rule to follow. It's part of who our students become.
Experience is the best teacher

Some of the most important learning at Highland happens beyond the classroom walls.

Freshmen pull blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay on Field Studies. Juniors test their ambitions through real-world internships. Seniors complete a month-long capstone project that brings years of study together in one meaningful, lasting piece of work. Whether students are pulling an all-nighter with the Robotics team, engineering a subsonic wind tunnel, or surviving "Hell Week" in preparation for a play or musical in The Rice Theater, experience turns abstract learning into something they'll carry with them for years.
Make it your own: Personalized Learning Plans and Certificate programs
No two students arrive at Highland with the same ambitions. No two Highland paths look exactly alike.

Through Personalized Learning Plans, students shape an academic journey around their goals and passions. And for those ready to go deeper in a specific direction, our Certificate programs offer a focused, distinctive credential built to stand out:
- Leadership
- Global Studies
- Pre-Engineering
- Arts
These aren't add-ons. They're how ambitious students commit to a passion, build real expertise, and graduate with evidence of sustained, serious work, which is exactly the kind of focus that shapes a compelling college application and a purposeful life.
Support built for ambitious students

The harder we challenge our students, the more seriously we take what happens when they need help.

Our Learning Support team works with students to strengthen their learning strategies and self-advocacy skills. These are same skills that will carry them through college and beyond. Every day, integrated advisories bring students together across grade levels to learn from and mentor each other. Older students step into leadership. Younger students gain guidance from peers who've just navigated the same terrain. It's a structure that makes the whole community stronger.
Where classroom rigor meets campus life

At Highland, intellectual energy doesn't stay inside the classroom.

The English department's Poetry Slam and Flash Fiction contests make writing something to compete for. Leadership classes challenge students to find their voice through This I Believe speeches. International Week brings a featured country to life across the curriculum, connecting classroom study to a wider world. And students build real leadership through Prefect Board roles, club and class offices, and team captaincies.

The curiosity, discipline, and courage students build in class are the same qualities that make them leaders everywhere else. At Highland, that's not a happy coincidence; it's the design.

Where the journey leads

College admissions offices are looking for students who are intellectually serious, personally grounded, and ready to contribute. Highland's Upper School produces exactly that.

This is where a young person's academic potential is fully realized through rigorous coursework, mentorship from faculty who truly know them, and an environment that prepares them to thrive, lead, and serve. Whether your student is a Highland "Lifer" or joining us for the first time, the Upper School is where the foundation built across their education comes into its fullest expression.

Experience the Upper School for yourself

The best way to understand what we offer is to see it in action. Take in a lively seminar in a class of eleven, a senior presenting their capstone project, a faculty member connecting their own interests and experiences to that morning's lesson. Come visit and talk with our teachers, students, and college counselors. See where your child's ambitions can lead.