Not Your Grandmother's (Or Your) High School
A sharp departure from the “factory model” school of the 19th and 20th centuries, Qualia’s high school produces self-motivated, inquisitive, flexible citizens capable of pivoting to meet the demands of an as-yet-indeterminate future.
Engaging Programs
Explore What We Do Differently
Excellence at Qualia High School means losing yourself in a topic or idea, entering into a focused state of intellectual “flow,” and sharing your uncontainable enthusiasm with others. Close mentoring by our faculty, themselves passionate life-long scholars, promotes deep understanding and personalizes learning. For a budding scholar, the Qualia experience provides an antidote and counterpoint to the lecture-and-test, smile-and-endure “Race to Nowhere” embodied by other elite programs. At Qualia, we embrace students’ diverse interests and allow them to excel at their own pace without limitations. For advanced learners, we offer inquiry-driven honors classes, an advanced level STEM program, a unique Symposium program, a senior honors thesis program, a 12th-year Quest Program, and the opportunity to attend college courses for credit.
Great Ideas
Video Game Creators' Workshop
Advanced STEM
Senior Master Thesis
and class
Beyond A-G
Graduation Requirements
In addition to the five traditional high school subjects (English, social science/history, mathematics, laboratory science, and foreign language), our four-year Great Ideas and Symposium requirements produce graduates familiar with basic tenets of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and political science.
Four Years
Required Subjects
Click to see past themes and classes
- Adventures in Art
- Clay Sculpture
- Illustration
- Academic Journal
- Photography
- Humor Magazine
- Computer Programming
- Rock Band
- Inventors’ Workshop
- Idea Lab
- Fashion Design
- Creative Writing
- Film Analysis
- Photography
- Culinary Arts
- Documentary Filmmaking
- Drama
- Poetry
- Yearbook
- Vocals
- Defying Societal Gravity: Strong Women of 19th and 20th Century Literature
- Southern Literature
- Magic, Mayhem and Miracles
- Advanced Literary Analysis: Word vs Image — Writing on Literature and Film
- Advanced Literary Analysis: Ethics, Evil, Faith and Fiction
- The Construction of the Male Gender in Literature
- World History
- US History
- 20th Century Political and Intellectual History
- Pre-Columbian History
Three Years
Required Subjects
Click to see past themes and classes
(Three years of the same language)
- Spanish
- Japanese
- French
- Latin
- Pre-Algebra
- Algebra 1
- Algebra 2
- Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus
- Geometry
- Statistics
- First and Second Year Calculus
- Advanced Mathematics (Linear Algebra, Number Theory, and Abstract Algebra)
- Theoretical Physics
- Biology
- Neuroscience
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Calculus-Based Physics
- Organic Chemistry
- Advanced Topics in Science
- Eudaimonia (Advanced STEM Program)
Two Years
Required Subjects
Click to see past themes and classes
- Cross Country Team (CIF Member)
- Rock Climbing
- Strength and Cardiovacular
- Training
- Hiking
- Fitness Games and More!
Symposium -
A Marketplace for Ideas
Both a celebration and a challenge, Symposium is the embodiment of the Qualia spirit and pedagogy – a meaningful, transformative alternative to final exams. Consistent with our commitment to “choice and voice,” students select their own topics based on a unifying, school-wide philosophical question or theme. They become researchers and teachers, learning to produce substantive, idea-focused academic papers.
After an exhilarating and rewarding week of exploration and writing, students transform their papers into interactive, creative presentations that bring their ideas to life for an authentic audience of Qualia students, teachers and the community at large.
