Welcome to Upper School!

9th – 12th Grade

At Germantown Academy, our teachers strive to know students in purposeful, genuine ways, and travel together with them along their path through the Upper School. The ability of our teachers to recognize the potential for excellence or the spark of passion creates a nurturing yet challenging environment within which our students can develop their gifts to the fullest.

We encourage our students to think deeply and to ask questions, to investigate and to discover, and to learn with and from one another. While our college prep curriculum certainly provides students with excellent preparation for college and beyond, it also offers opportunities to explore a well-rounded course of study and to pursue existing areas of interest. We encourage our scholars, our athletes, and our performers to challenge themselves, to try, on occasion to fail, and, most importantly, to develop the resiliency and the resolve to persevere.

Innovative Upper School Programs

Harkness Method

Harkness Tables are more than just round tables in the Upper School. They provide a forum for learning and debate. The Socratic Method, learning by debate and inquiry, is a philosophy that GA embraces. Individuals graduate from GA knowing that they have their own voice and are obligated to use it.

GAXP

The GA Experience Program (GAXP) is an annual program that provides learning opportunities outside of the classroom in the form of two distinct trips to various locations in the country. Each year, students in 9th – 11th Grade can apply for one of these trips that will enrich their lives through a unique experience that ties into the GA Mission.

The Academy Scholars program is an opportunity for students with a passion for scholarship, creative writing, visual art, performing art, or research (in the sciences, social sciences, or humanities) to pursue that passion by means of developing and working on a significant, independent project.