A Challenging Environment

Students learn by doing at Principia. With a balanced class schedule that includes English language and literature, other modern languages, history and government, math, science, and the arts, Principians continually expand their intellectual horizons.

Students develop many specific academic skills at the Upper School. For example, they:

• Improve their ability to read critically, write effectively, listen actively, and speak dynamically.

• Become adept at outlining, note taking, analyzing text, and presenting information.

• Demonstrate a variety of problem-solving methods and use a wide range of mathematical applications.

• Explore world cultures and cultivate in-depth knowledge of world geography, history, political systems, and economics.

• Develop skills in a second, and sometimes a third, world language.

• Understand elementary chemistry, biology, and physics and learn to think like a scientist.

• Explore the fundamentals of music, drama, two- and three-dimensional art, and have opportunities to create original works and perform for an audience.

• Discover topics of personal interest in a wide variety of elective and enrichment classes from cooking and graphic design, to tap dancing and fencing.