HSAS: Brief Description of School
Our school emphasizes the study of American
history and offers students an academic program that is both well-rounded
and challenging. Our goal is to prepare students for admission to highly
competitive colleges and for a wide range of careers in politics, law,
journalism, business, science, mathematics, and the arts.
All students engage in a three-year chronological study of American
History. Our aim is to make history come alive through the use of primary
source documents, films, biographies, literature, and creative teaching
techniques. Supported by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute, students gain
first-hand knowledge of the key events in American history through trips
to sites and cities of historic importance and through participation
in special seminars with guest speakers. We also offer honors-level,
Advanced Placement, and elective courses in mathematics, science, constitutional
and criminal law, literature, film, foreign languages, history, and
the arts. A special component of our program focuses on the development
of college-level research skills and methodologies, and students are
therefore supported by school and college faculty in the process of
pursuing individualized research projects. Through our collaboration
with Lehman College, students have access to its campus library and
athletic facilities, and take credit-bearing college classes and seminars
in their junior and senior years. After school, students may participate
in a wide variety of extra-curricular activities and PSAL sports.
In all of our endeavors, we seek to encourage in our students a love
for learning and an inquisitive spirit.
