Episcopal High School

Episcopal High School (also The High School, or Episcopal), founded in 1839, is a private boarding school located in Alexandria, Virginia. The Holy Hill's 130-acre (0.53 km2) campus houses 435 students from 30 states, the District of Columbia and 17 different countries.The school is 100-percent boarding and is one of only four all-boarding schools in the United States and the only one located in a metropolitan area.

Episcopal High School was founded in 1839 as the first high school in Virginia.The Rev. William N. Pendleton and three assistant heads initially taught 35 boys at the boarding facility which occupied 80 acres of land. It was originally known as The Howard School, from its location at the site of an earlier school.It became known affectionately as "The High School".The central administration building, Hoxton House, dates to around 1805, built by Martha Washington's eldest granddaughter, Elizabeth Parke Custis Law.

In 1840, Episcopal's student body tripled in size to accommodate more than 100 boys. It continued to grow until the Civil War, when it closed immediately after Federal forces occupied Alexandria in 1861. Some 500 students served as soldiers in the war, many like Rev. Pendleton (who became a Brigadier General) for the Confederacy. For the next five years, school buildings served as part of a large hospital for Federal troops. Poet Walt Whitman served as a nurse in the hospital.

The school reopened in 1866. Under the direction of Launcelot Minor Blackford (Principal, 1870-1913), the school initiated a modern academic curriculum as well as pioneered interscholastic team sports in the South, including football, baseball, and track. EHS competes in the longest-running consecutive high-school football rivalry in the South and one of the oldest in the United States.

The School’s college preparatory curriculum requires that students take courses in English, foreign languages, mathematics, science, social studies, the arts, computer studies, and theology. To graduate, students must earn a minimum total of twenty-three credits in four years, including credits received for afternoon program activities.

For those students seeking additional academic challenges, EHS offers more than forty honors or Advanced Placement courses. AP courses are offered to students who have met specific departmental criteria for excellence, including test scores and grades in prior courses. Honors and AP classes are available in required courses such as English, math, social studies, science, and foreign languages, as well as in many electives. Last year, approximately eighty-five percent of students taking AP exams achieved a score of three or better.

Episcopal offers arts courses in instrumental music, vocal music, acting, dance, ceramics, photography, drawing, painting, music theory, and music recording.All students entering as freshmen are required complete one credit in the arts, and older students must complete one-half credit in order to graduate.

Arts courses take place in the Ainslie Arts Center, named for former headmaster Lee S. Ainslie ’56. The building opened in 2003 and includes a black box theater and a recording studio.

The school regularly offers student and professional art shows, concerts and workshops. The National Chamber Players perform at the school several times each year, and student musicians often perform with the Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Students are required to attend a 15–20-minute chapel service three times a week. There is a voluntary church service each Sunday, and once a month there is a mandatory vespers service on Sunday evenings. The Friday chapel service is usually student-led. Students of all religions are accepted to the school and allowed to lead Friday Services should they wish to do so. The school is informally affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, yet all are welcome. Often there will be a guest speaker in the chapel services. Among these speakers are former student Tim Hightower[citation needed] and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.