The Key to Self-Discovery
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Welcome to the King Upper School
An Expansive Adventure
Schools that urge high school students to follow the expected path, check only the right boxes, and polish their resumes are failing our students -- and breeding stress and anxiety.
At King School, we set a better standard by encouraging students to see learning as a personal adventure; one without a defined beginning, middle, or end. Our students engage deeply with the experience of education -- not just mastering material, but also inviting collaboration, applying knowledge, and making unexpected discoveries.
Setting a Better Standard for Upper School
When young adults are cheered on as they begin to take ownership of their ambitions and achievements, they feel like stars of a team designed and built for their drive for excellence. As a private high school located in Stamford, CT, King school empowers students to unleash their greatness by emphasizing self-knowledge, expansive learning, and courageous thinking -- the very qualities that lead to happy, healthy, and purposeful lives.
LEARN HOW KING SETS BETTER STANDARDS
Learn More About Our Private Stamford Upper School: Grades 9-12
The Tools for Greatness
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“At King, we emphasize that an excellent education takes students where they want to go. We also believe that courage and compassion are essential components in the search for purpose, a key element of a King education. Our students support one another as they begin to bring their ambitions into sharper focus and work to achieve their goals, cheered on by the whole community.”
— Marnie Sadlowsky, Associate Head of School for Program and Head of Upper School
“Conducting my own scientific research in the Advanced Science Program for Research and Engineering (ASPIRE) is an incomparable experience.”
— Ashley X., Upper School student
"It’s fascinating to learn the stories of others, and how aspects of people's experiences have come to formulate what they believe. To me, there's always something to be learned from every person and their experiences."
— Will H., Upper School student
Meet our Community
Upper School in Action
At King, excellence occurs in a community context. On Prize Day, we called out individuals' names as embodiments of excellence, but the fact is that no one can achieve anything alone. "Teachers, classmates' comments or debates in class or in study groups or teams, great assignments, careful coaching - this is what supports excellence. We all call on each other to see excellence, and we at King never stop seeking it. One of King's Virtues is perseverance, and we believe that this virtue, in particular, is alive and well," says Head of Upper School Marnie Sadlowsky. Congratulations to all of our Recipients this year!
King School is delighted to welcome alumnus Ahmed Fattouh '91 as the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremony on Friday, June 4, 2021. "Ahmed embodies King School's virtues and is a loyal and supportive member of our community," said Director of Development Lauren Fredette. A newly elected member of King School's Board of Trustees, Ahmed Fattouh is also an inspiring example of a King education.
King student Peri Ferguson '22 was selected from over 500 students to receive a Global Online Academy Citation Award at the Catalyst Conference for her project on extending the life of clothing to reduce global waste. King School is one of 96 schools worldwide that participates in the Global Online Academy (GOA) consortium. The conference, which took place from April 22 to 26, is a virtual event where students in the GOA consortium present their capstone projects on research-based solutions to real-world issues.
A group of 11 King School seniors presented their artwork and talked about their yearlong exploration of various mediums. In preparation for the annual art colloquium, which took place on April 29, students experimented with different art forms to creatively convey their interests and life experiences.
Eighteen admissions representatives from all over the nation joined King's Grade 11 students in an interactive program designed to mimic the college admissions review process. The students reviewed sample college applications for five students. In small committees guided by their anonymous admissions professionals, they explored the pros and cons before ultimately determining which applicants to admit, deny, or waitlist.
Antonia Kolb ’24 and Max Wachter ’24 uncovered some glaring differences and similarities in the King uniform as it has evolved throughout history. While studying fashion in their French Honors class, the two students put together a presentation that relied on past yearbooks and the King School history book “150 Years of Educational Excellence” to research how the past uniforms compare with the uniforms of today.
King hosted its sixth annual El Sistema Residency, in which talented musicians from King's Middle and Upper Schools collaborated in intensive music workshops with visiting students of various El Sistema USA programs, including Stamford's own Project Music.
The residency's overarching focus is to inspire a deeper connection between communities of different socioeconomic backgrounds by using music as a vehicle to give voice to diverse cultural identities and amplify lived experiences.
King School STEM Club connected with tech giant IBM for three information-packed virtual sessions on artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and sustainability. The series began with IBM researcher Dr. Stacy Hobson, who surprised the students with a viewing of a horror movie trailer and later revealed that the entire trailer was created by AI software. The software was trained with snippets of the film and a database of other horror movie trailers to create a film montage designed to invoke similar human emotions from the other trailers, such as shock, fear, and surprise. “It was interesting to learn about so many different technologies in such a creative and fun way,” said Nicole Guido ’24, after watching the presentation.