18 Awesome Philly-Area High School Programs for Your Awesome Kid

School today is about much more than the three R’s. Modern students get to study everything from app development to underwater robotics to slam poetry.

We sorted through the offerings at Philly-area public schools and emerged with a collection of innovative programs aimed at giving high schoolers the jump-starts and specialized attention they need to discover their passions and reach their full potential.

See Also: The Top Public High Schools in the Philadelphia Region, Ranked for 2024

Astrophysics

Pennsbury High School
Grades: 10-12
Fairless Hills

What are we? Where are we? And how do we know? These aren’t just questions you’d overhear at a Phish show. Such queries shape the astrophysics course at Pennsbury High School.

In the early 2000s, teacher Glenn Goldsborough drew on his physics education degree to expand a half-year astronomy class into a full-year astrophysics course that explores what we know about the universe and the science behind how we know those things. Goldsborough attended workshops and teacher in-service programs offered by Penn State’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and has since led workshops there himself.

Last year, after a trial run at one of the district’s 10 elementary schools, the district, seeing value for all Pennsbury students, purchased an inflatable planetarium through a combination of in-house funds and a grant from the Pennsbury Education Foundation. During the fall, Goldsborough went to every elementary school in the district to show fifth-grade classes­ a demonstration in the planetarium. “It’s one of the most equitable things that we did in the district,” Goldsborough says, “They are getting the same content information, getting­ the same experience, with the same teacher.”

Project-Based Learning

Cheltenham High School
Grades: 9-12
Wyncote

The real world isn’t about acing tests and memorizing lists — it’s about working together to solve problems. That’s the big idea behind Cheltenham’s Project-Based Learning program, which takes inspiration from the “design thinking” model of Stanford University’s d.school and encourages participants to work collaboratively — ­and across disciplines — to answer an essential question. PBL projects have included a student “comic con” focused on heroes and villains, a documentary about work, and a “museum of illusions” that dealt with the nature of reality and perception. Each year, students complete two or four projects, each lasting two to four months and culminating in a final exhibition. PBL, now entering its eighth year, was introduced to Cheltenham through former teaching fellow Colin McCarthy, who connected the district with PBL-focused philanthropic­ organization the Avalon Foundation,­ through which Cheltenham educators visited High Tech High, a California-­based school development organization.

App Development Courses

Conestoga High School
Grades: 11-12
Berwyn

We take them for granted. We open our phones and touch the colorful little icons and are zipped away to Lyft or Whats­App or the tasty interface of the New York Times cooking app. We never stop to think about everything that went into that shiny button. At Conestoga High School, students are trained to do just that. After their AP Computer Science classes, students are encouraged to take two app development electives, one that teaches the basics and another that eventually leads to the creation of a gaming app. Maybe they can help us figure out why the Amtrak app always freezes our phones.

Drone Aviation and Flight Mechanics

Eastern Regional High School
Grades: 10-12
Voorhees

Two years ago, Eastern Regional asked Chris Miller if he’d take over a previous teacher’s proposal for a drone course. Even better, the school board had already budgeted money for a curriculum. Feeling that the price for that curriculum was “kind of outrageously high,” Miller accepted, provided that he could put together a curriculum himself, then use that money for better equipment. Soon, students were busy working with not just quadcopters (the technical name for flying drones), but also fabrication machines like carbon-fiber 3D printers and (new this year) a waterjet cutter for making precision parts.

The course teaches students both to fly quadcopters and to write programming code for automatic flight. The year is split into three main sections: an indoor section that introduces students to Tello miniature drones, a middle section where they discuss FAA regulations to prepare for the drone pilot certification test, and a final section where they go outside and fly larger DJI drones. It’s Miller’s goal that students will build their own quads from scratch as well.

It’s tons of fun, sure, but Miller notes that there are serious real-world applications, from inspecting solar arrays to analyzing crop yield, something researchers at Rowan University and Camden County College are currently doing with blueberry farms. Miller says that he’d like to involve his students in this research in the future.

“If you wanted to go into engineering — civil engineering, environmental engineering,” says Miller, “those are fields where drones are being applied, and if you have experience as a drone pilot or an understanding of what the drone can do … that would be advantageous.” But quads aren’t limited to engineering. “You never know where the students in your class are going to go,” he says, “and drone use is certainly becoming more widespread.”

Help for Struggling Students

Council Rock School District’s Sloan School
Grades: 9-12
Richboro

Anxiety. Attendance issues. Trouble adjusting to the size of high school. These are typical student issues for many teachers, so Council Rock decided to do something about it. Instead of forcing students who are struggling to adjust to attend one of the district’s two high schools, administrators created the Sloan School, a nontraditional, off-campus environment that meets students where they are. The school is tiny — only about 35 students — but that doesn’t limit course offerings. In addition to core courses, students can choose electives as wide-ranging as computer science and ancient myths. And when students feel ready to return to their main campus, they can, at any time.

Medical Studies

Annenberg High School Science Symposium
Grades: 9-12
Across the region

In 2003, the Annenberg Foundation donated $10 million to Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood for the creation of a medical education center — a hub of sorts for Main Line Health’s physicians in training and the continuing education of practicing physicians. The next year, Barry Mann, the health system’s chief academic officer, thought there should be another prong. “I said, ‘Why don’t you add community outreach to the mission?’” he recalls. Soon, the Annenberg High School Science Symposium was born.

That first year, Mann went to Friends Central, Lower Merion High School, Merion Mercy Academy, and Akiba Academy (now Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy) with a pitch: If you have a class that wants to pick a medical topic and study it, I will provide you somebody knowledgeable to help them get started on it. Come springtime, the students would put on a presentation about their findings. But there was a hook: In addition to the presentation, the students would have to perform something on stage, to show that you can use the creative arts to explain a complex medical issue, “so it wasn’t just science geeks signing up for this,” Mann says.

Twenty years later, the program has expanded to 16 schools, each paired with a Main Line Health hospital. More than 5,000 students have passed through the program, studying everything from mammography to neurodiversity to hyperbaric oxygen therapy.­

Little Panthers Preschool

Strath Haven High School
Grades: 10-12
Wallingford

Think of every class you took in high school. Now think of the ones that you’d consider “hands-on.” Chemistry, probably. Gym, certainly. Maybe you took a shop or typing class, or learned to sew or cook. Now, how about early childhood development? Well, that’s exactly what the Family and Consumer Sciences department at Strath Haven has with the Little Panthers Preschool, housed right at the high school. Students enrolled in the school’s Exploring Childhood and Advanced Childhood classes are thrust into the real world, helping program director Jennifer Zanoni educate their younger counterparts. Students design and implement activities for the youngsters, all of whom live in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District.

Spoken-Word Poetry

Academy at Palumbo
Grades: 9-12
Bella Vista

Practice makes perfect. It’s one of those clichés we all roll our eyes at, mostly because we know deep down that it’s true. For the spoken-word poetry students at the Academy at Palumbo, it also happens to be why they’re currently the best student slam poets in the highly competitive field of Philly high school slam poetry. Palumbo has a spoken-word poetry elective, which means students spend time every day, for the whole school year, learning about the writing, structure, and performance — in front of the entire student body — of their works. Many of those students then find their way to the school’s poetry team; it’s a program that’s distinctively Palumbo, says teacher leader Cait Kay.

“They get a very unique opportunity to perform and to perform with enough regularity that they have the confidence and the polish and the poise to be ready to compete against kids all across the city,” Kay says. And the results make that clear: Palumbo just won its sixth Philly Slam League title this past spring. Kay hopes the art form spreads to more schools, and she’s helping that along with her spoken-word poetry curriculum that she shares with other teachers. She also has a book on the way next spring.

The Pottsgrove Village

Pottsgrove School District
Grades: Open to anyone
Pottsgrove

Three years ago, Pottsgrove School District parents and administrators came together with one goal in mind: finding a way to better serve the district’s students with special­ needs. The result was the Potts­grove Village.

“Ultimately, it was like minds,” says Annique Ruiz-Brown, a parent of a child with special needs. Her experience prior to the Pottsgrove Village was stressful — even just trying to assess the many different special education resources out there was tiring. Parents now work with the district administration to learn more about how they can support their children through the educational system, and how to navigate­ it.

AnnMarie Lucas, the program director, has worked to establish partnerships between professionals and parents like Ruiz-Brown to create a community of understanding and inclusion in the district through the spread of special ed information.

The Village’s private Facebook group serves as an information library, hosting helpful documents and presentations, and its events are broadcast virtually, helping not only district families but interested families from everywhere.

A.C.T.I.V.E. Academy

Abington High School
Grades: young adults ages 18 to 21
Abington

The transition from high school to adult life can be daunting, no matter the circumstances. With students on the autism spectrum or with intellectual disabilities — nearly four percent of the Abington School District’s student body — it’s imperative that districts, families, and students properly prepare­ for what comes next. In Abington, that’s the A.C.T.I.V.E. (Accessing Community, Travel, Independent Living, and Vocational Education) Academy. The transitional program, now in its 10th year, helps young adults develop the skills needed to lead strong, independent lives. Participants learn independent living skills, such as taking public transit, cooking, and self-care; they also spend time working in the community. The impact is seen throughout Abington, with students manning the cafeteria and delivering flowers at Abington Hospital Jefferson Health, running the coffee cart at the district building, and working at CVS, among other community partners.

Harriton Research Lab

Lower Merion School District
Grades: 9-12
Montgomery County

This one’s for the real brains. The Harriton Research Lab — founded in 2019 and open to students across the district — seeks out someone from academia to mentor a group through a research project, using data science skills along the way. One recent group studied the effects of partisan politics on education budgets with Villanova econ professor Sutirtha Bagchi. Another teamed up with Caltech professor and astronomer Lynne Hillenbrand to “investigate the variability of young stellar objects with the Zwicky Transient Facility.” Don’t understand what that means? Neither do we! But the work was published in the peer-reviewed Astronomical Journal. These kids will someday rule the world. (Or maybe the stars.) And the lab’s scope has expanded well beyond the Philly area: It recently collaborated with high schoolers in Fullerton, California, on two research projects.

Esports Club

Steinhauer Elementary
Grade: 6
Maple Shade

During the pandemic, kids at Steinhauer couldn’t participate in after-school sports, so teacher Joseph Whalen brought the idea of an esports program to the school board and landed funding for classroom gaming computers. During the first year, some students would play from home and team up with others in the computer lab.

The club is now gearing up for its fifth season. Students come together for an after-school program in which they practice the game Rocket League, which Whalen describes as car-soccer. Garden State Esports, a nonprofit competitive gaming league founded by educators during the pandemic to help students stay connected and now the organizing body for esports in New Jersey, was instrumental in getting the program off the ground. “Without them, I probably wouldn’t have known how to start this whole thing up,” says Whalen.

“The hope with the club is to show you there’s other kinds of jobs you can do with [gaming],” Whalen says, noting that the club exposes participants to elements of game design and the emerging world of esports commentary — yes, esports have commentators.­

The club, which is open to all sixth graders,­ teaches soft skills. “We think of games more like I’m a solo player, so it takes a while to learn the teamwork dynamics,” Whalen says. “We’re playing together, we’re helping one another, we’re not competing with one another.” Sounds like Jamie Tartt’s character arc in Ted Lasso.

Community Study Program

Upper Dublin High School
Grade: 12
Fort Washington

Did you suffer from senior­itis? For more than four decades, Upper Dublin has provided­ a compelling antidote to the malaise some soon-to-be grads experience. The district’s Community Study Program gives students practical experience through internships, letting them test out potential careers. Seniors land placements at businesses and organizations in the community, with an emphasis on hands-on learning and networking. The school reports that 75 percent of seniors participate, and the only requirement is that students­ have at least a C average, minimal behavioral issues, and good attendance. Though the CSP’s primary emphasis­ is on students getting to apply their education outside the classroom, administrators appreciate that it also mitigates end-of-school burnout.

GatewayToCareers

Gateway Regional High School
Grade: 12
Woodbury

Lots of schools have career days. But 10 years ago, career day at Gateway blossomed into something much bigger: the school’s GatewayToCareers internship program. “The program is partnered with some 200 companies, including PCH Technologies, Berkshire Hathaway Fox Roach Realtors, Nemours Children’s Health, and AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassadors,” says district career leader Melissa Eckstein, who launched GatewayToCareers with fellow teacher Mike Joyce. Seniors who are accepted generally spend half the day at school, then leave for internships. But the school begins prepping students much earlier, offering career education as early as seventh grade and job-shadowing classes starting sophomore year. “One of my goals in education,” Eckstein says, “is helping kids discover their passion, making sure they’re doing something that’s fulfilling and rewarding.” When the program — which includes speakers, career days, and field trips — started, there were eight students, Joyce estimates.­ Last year, some 35 students did senior-year internships.

Spatial Computing Program

North Penn High School
Grades: 10-12
Lansdale

Don’t know what spatial computing is? You must not have a teen or tween running around wearing one of those Oculus headsets. Spatial computing is a catch-all term for tech that blends virtual and physical worlds — think augmented reality and virtual reality. Naturally, kids are already learning how to apply this technology. North Penn’s Spatial Computing Program is centered around Unity, a platform for creating such content, and is open to all students who want to learn to develop projects in 3D or VR. The program launched in 2021 at the direction of former superintendent Curt Dietrich, who was looking to bolster NPHS’s already robust STEM programming. The North Penn School District Educational Foundation provided funding, and district teachers developed the curriculum. Computer science teacher Ryan Kolb participated in a training program through Unity that connected him to a network of educators developing spatial computing programs of their own. At the end of the program, students participate in an independent capstone in which they create a game from start to finish. And one program alum has advanced to a VR development major at Johns Hopkins University.

Robolancers Robotics Team

Central High School
Grades: 9-12
North Philly

Robotics at Central isn’t just a class or a team; it’s a lifestyle. The magnet school’s robotics program — founded in 1999 — has become the gold standard in the Philly region, and now around the world. (In April, the team bested 600 other squads to take home the world title at the FIRST Robotics Championship.)

It’s far from just a technical competition, says Central engineering teacher and robotics coach Michael Johnson. It’s leadership and team-building training too. “It’s a place for students to take the knowledge that they’re picking up in their classes or in their other studies and put it into action, and to do that together as a team,” says Johnson. “Even in, like, science classes, where there’s a laboratory component, it’s not really a creative process. And having an idea and making it real is really, really attractive to my students.”

For schools hoping to start their own robotics team, be warned: It’s a heavy lift. Johnson stresses that having principal buy-in is a must, and it doesn’t hurt to have parent volunteers in the field. But there’s some help too. The Central program works with partner organizations to support more than 100 other teams around the city, providing funding and training for students as young as second grade.

Underwater Robotics

SeaPerch
Grades: Middle and high schoolers
Schools across the region

Move over, swim team — someone else needs the pool. That would be SeaPerch, the nationwide underwater robotics program that has teams in schools across the Philly region. Middle and high school students use the engineering design process to model, solder, 3D-print, manipulate, and otherwise create their team’s remotely operated vehicle. At the end of the school year, teams compete at the Greater Philadelphia SeaPerch Challenge, which is judged by officers from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division. ROVs complete a series of underwater obstacles and challenges (last year they were tasked with shooting rockets underwater!), and teams have to adapt to last-minute leaks and other hiccups. They also get to pick cool names: Go Springfield High Sea Cougars!

Destinations With Direction

Phoenixville Area Middle School and High School
Grades: 6-12
Phoenixville

Students from families where no one has previously gone to college, or from families with limited economic resources, often have a hard time imagining higher ed for themselves. Destinations With Direction was established 15 years ago by Craig Parkinson, then an assistant principal in the district, to help students of modest means see college as part of their future and then prepare them for that future. Students (about 30 are selected to participate each year) receive access to benefits like extended school days, counseling, mentors, tutors, college tours, and professional development. The program is sustained through partnerships, including with the Phoenixville Community Education Foundation, which has funded college tours for the participants, and with nearby West Chester University, which helps shape the program’s content. WCU brings in faculty who coordinate weekly workshops, students who share their experiences, and college personnel who discuss topics like financial aid and tips for collegiate success.

Published as “Paths to Greatness” in the October 2024 issue of Philadelphia magazine.