School Profile

Founded in 1844, Western High School is a pioneer in women's public education. Western has consistently attracted students of academic excellence.

A liberal arts college preparatory school, Western substantiated its reputation for scholastic achievement with a college placement of 100% last school year. Drawn from neighborhoods throughout the city of Baltimore, the current population of 840 is racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse.

Western offers two academic programs: accelerated college preparatory and honors college preparatory. The accelerated college preparatory program provides students an opportunity to cover four years of high school in grades 9-11, thus enabling them to pursue advanced placement or college level work in the twelfth grade. This program was organized in 1933 in cooperation with Goucher College. The honors college program provides students with the opportunity to take honors courses in the subject in which they demonstrate strength. America's most prestigious universities seek Western graduates.

Western High School's philosophy provides for the development of the whole child. The school sponsors more than 40 clubs, organizations and athletic teams. A small fraction of the opportunities available to the students includes championship teams, prize-winning fine arts performances, literary and journalism publications, visual arts displays, peer facilitating and leadership opportunities.

As students in a highly charged, wholesomely competitive academic atmosphere, Westernites learn to assume leadership roles to seek solutions to problems, to initiate and implement projects and to begin to take charge of their own lives. Such experiences are invaluable to young women in today's society.

The uniqueness of Western High School is unquestionable. Its scholarship, tradition, and spirit, which began 163 years ago, continues to enrich the lives of Baltimore's future leading women.

Read about Western's academic programs.

Western graduates include . . .

• Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah
• Judge Sarah Tilghman Hughes, who swore in Lyndon B. Johnson as president
• award-winning actors Mildred Dunnock, Trazana Beverly, and Anna Deavere Smith
• Clara and Etta Cone, benefactors to the Baltimore Museum of Art
• reporter, commentator, and author Farai Chideya
• state senator Lisa Gladden and delegate Jill Carter
• city council members Belinda Conway and Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.