The school is a cluster of low-slung brick buildings. Students sport Vineyard Vines shirts, North Face vests, and Lululemon leggings.
But some things at Greeley aren’t talked about. One senior, whose mother speaks English with a thick Spanish accent, was shocked when classmates launched into stereotyped assumptions about her family.
Academics
Horace Greeley High School is a top-rated, public high school in Chappaqua, New York. Its students are highly prepared for college and have many opportunities to take Advanced Placement courses. In addition, the school provides a strong education in both the liberal arts and sciences. The school is also known for its community service, and students can volunteer to help the elderly, disabled, or homeless.
The school is named after the editor of The New York Tribune, who made Chappaqua his home in his later years. One of the school’s main publications is The Greeley Tribune, an additional tribute to the newspaper man. In addition, the school produces The Quake, a sports magazine, and ADVO, a full color lifestyle and entertainment magazine.
Teachers at Horace Greeley are highly qualified and work together to provide a strong academic program. The school has a low student-to-teacher ratio and offers a variety of classes, including music, art, foreign language, and computer science. The school also offers a summer school program for high school students. Students in the CSSP program study subjects that are not offered at the regular high school, such as Contemporary Issues and Shakespeare with actors from the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.
In recent years, approximately a tenth of graduating seniors have been recognized as National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists. The school also offers a number of scholarships for high achieving and talented students, as well as an internship program.
Students at the high school are involved in a wide range of extracurricular activities, from the Model United Nations to One World Study Circle, community service groups like S.H.A.R.E., and AIDS awareness to Alliance for Equality, FCCLA, the Horace Greeley Improvisational Acting Troupe, Greening Greeley, and Amnesty International. There are also a number of student organizations that focus on social activism, including the Jewish Student Union, which was started by senior Rachel Rosenberg after an anti-Semitic incident in school last year.
The school has a strong focus on career readiness, and students can participate in internships for credit. The school has a dedicated career counselor, who helps students develop their skills in resume writing and interviewing. In addition, students can take part in a summer internship program to gain hands-on experience.
Extracurricular Activities
In addition to the usual academic offerings, Horace Greeley has a wide range of extracurricular activities. For instance, there is a debate team and a Model United Nations group that students can join. The school also has a student-run newspaper called ADVO and a yearbook, the Quaker. In addition, students can take a variety of foreign language classes and AP courses. They can also take Syracuse University Project Advance courses, such as Business Law and Forensic Science.
The school is named for Horace Greeley, the editor of The New York Tribune, who made his home in Chappaqua in later life. The school’s two main publications, the Greeley Tribune and ADVO, honor his legacy. In addition to the newspaper, the school has a number of other media outlets, including The Greeley Report and the sports magazine The Quake. The school also has several student clubs, including the Alliance for Equality and a Jewish Student Union chapter. The latter was established after a series of anti-Semitic incidents at the school.
Students are required to participate in a minimum of five hours of community service each term. They can also choose to complete an internship for credit. The school also offers a summer program where students are released from their afternoon classes to work in local businesses.
Horace Greeley has a strong track record when it comes to preparing students for college. Its students are ranked in the top 1% of all high schools in the state for both math and reading proficiency. They are also among the highest-scoring students in the country on the SAT and ACT.
Approximately one-tenth of the school’s graduating seniors are recognized as National Merit semi-finalists. Its students have an average SAT score of 1337 and a mean ACT score of 29. A typical class size is about 30 students, with a 10:1 student-teacher ratio. The school is located in a small hamlet, about 35 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. The school is part of the Chappaqua Central School District.
Sports
Across the campus, sprawling sports fields lead up to a cluster of low-slung, 1970s-style brick buildings. Students wear Vineyard Vines shirts and North Face vests, and their yearbooks feature pages devoted to trend-spotting, including Lululemon leggings (which have made a comeback after the company’s ill-received yoga pants). “There’s a strong prep school vibe here,” one parent says. “They’re preparing for college.”
The high school is known for its strong academics, particularly its Advanced Placement programs. AP participation is 92%, and the school’s SAT scores are above the national average. Students also have the opportunity to earn college credits through the AP Early Action program.
The varsity football team has won three state championships, and the varsity lacrosse team has garnered all league and all section honors in 2021 and 2022. In addition, the varsity soccer team has won two state championships in the past decade and the varsity tennis team is ranked number 16 nationally by the United States Tennis Association.
Located in Chappaqua-Mount Kisco, Horace Greeley is a top-rated public school with a student-teacher ratio of 10 to 1. Niche ranks nearly 100,000 schools and districts based on statistics and millions of opinions from students and parents. Niche users from this school are most interested in the following colleges:
Fine Arts
Despite a budget that is below the state average, Greeley students enjoy an ambitious arts curriculum, which is supported by a robust network of partnerships with Chicago arts organizations. Hallways double as galleries, displaying student prints in the style of Andy Warhol and posters that describe the origins of ballroom dance moves.
The school also offers theater and speech classes, and provides instruments and practice space for music novices in every grade. Teachers emphasize the importance of taking artistic/performance based risks with students, a belief that one Greeley graduate credits with propelling her to a professional career in musical theatre.
In the classroom, the school has adopted a distributive leadership model with the principal, vice principal, curriculum and arts coordinator, and counselor as its leaders. Teachers take on leadership roles in their own areas, and they also share expertise by working together. “I think the school is really a community of learners,” says Azcoitia. “There’s a lot of trust that we can all share ideas.”
The school places a premium on arts education, and its teachers are highly motivated. Almost all have some level of experience in the field, and they use their knowledge to push themselves and their students.
As a result, the school has a culture of respect that is built from the bottom up. Teachers expect a lot from their students, and they aren’t afraid to discipline misbehavior when it happens. The expectation is that everyone will do their best, so they can help each other succeed.
A former guidance counselor says that the expectations start early, with pre-K and Kindergarten teachers demanding respect from their students. She adds that the culture is reinforced by programs that link before- and after-school activities to classroom instruction.
One of the most popular high school clubs is the Geology Club, which gives students a hands-on look at the world around them. The course includes laboratory research, earth science projects and a field trip to a geologic site. Other activities include a year-long service learning project that requires each student to complete 40 hours of volunteer work.
