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  • An Upper School that prepares students for college and beyond by learning how to read critically, write cogently, think broadly and solve complex problems through a challenging interdisciplinary program.

  • Students acquire the knowledge, skills and confidence to successfully navigate higher education and future careers. 

Seattle Upper School for Grades 9-12

Upper School students at Northwest are challenged to expand their worldview, deepen self-understanding, and become positive change agents in their communities. Our interdisciplinary liberal arts program helps students connect ideas across humanities, math, science, modern languages and the arts. They develop leadership, communication, research, and analytical skills that prepare them for college and living with a sense of purpose.

Find Your Voice and Your Direction at Northwest

Northwest's Upper School gives students room to grow intellectually and personally in a supportive community. Our expert faculty and advisors encourage students to take academic risks, think critically, and become compassionate yet creative problem solvers to serve their communities.

Why Upper School at Northwest?

  • A program that values academic rigor, imagination, creative expression, and intellectual curiosity.
  • An environment where global learning permeates the classroom. Students engage with ideas, people, and experiences that broaden their understanding of the world.
  • Our signature Academic Pathways program offers the opportunity to develop a focused area of study, and develop a portfolio of original scholarship.
  • A College Counseling program that provides students with the resources, opportunities, and coaching to successfully apply for higher education programs.

"When I graduated from Northwest, I wasn’t embarrassed to talk about things or to have ideas. That was especially important to me as a woman. I left there feeling I could do anything."

– Alex Pemoulie (Class of ’03), Co-owner and operator of Mean Sandwich and Director of Finance at Sea Creatures restaurant group

"Even early on, as a student at Northwest, I was learning to think for myself. In Humanities, we brought in newspaper articles and discussed the underlying messages we were being fed in the news and teachers asked us to form our own opinions. Deconstructing the messages within the media and creating my own meaning is something I will use for the rest of my life."

– Tani Ikeda (Class of '05), Emmy Award-Winning Director

"At Northwest, we called teachers by their first names and we felt we could approach the teachers and ask questions. We could have an honest discussion with them; we could have a disagreement. In the sciences you are going to question everything. You're going to go to your boss and have a dialogue. You'll never get anywhere in science if you don't know how to ask questions. Northwest was really good at encouraging that open inquisitive attitude."

– Kate Rozen Gagnon (Class of '06), Assistant Professor, Molecular Genetics, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

An Upper School program where students hone their academic skills, develop intellectual rigor, and learn how to become positive change agents in contemporary global societies!

 

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