Academic Program

academic program

Hill is a place where girls have a choice of:

Pathways
Learning Styles
Courses
Activities

Academics

St. Joseph Hill Academy has a long tradition of offering college preparatory curricular programs that seek to meet the individual needs of students. We do this by providing a highly unique experience. With a selection of Honors, College, and AP courses, Hill is equipped to provide a challenging and enriching experience for all students.

At Hill, every student embarks on a comprehensive four-year journey through core academic subjects, culminating in an Advanced New York State Regents Diploma. Beyond these foundational courses, students have the opportunity to specialize their education by choosing between our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Pathway or our Humanities Pathway. These pathways serve as the cornerstone of each student's academic program, fostering depth of knowledge and passion in their chosen field.

2024 AP School Honor Roll

We are delighted to announce that St. Joseph Hill Academy High School has been recognized as a Platinum member of the 2024 AP School Honor Roll, the highest distinction awarded! This prestigious accolade celebrates our commitment to increasing college-going culture, providing opportunities for students to earn college credit, and maximizing college readiness.

St. Joseph Hill Academy High School also received the 2024 AP Access Award for ensuring AP coursework is equally available to students no matter their backgrounds. At St. Joseph Hill Academy, every single student will take AP Seminar as part of our AP Capstone Program.

Hill also offers a number of AP classes including AP Human Geography, AP Computer Science Principles, AP World History: Modern, AP Precalculus, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Biology, AP 2-D Art & Design, and more.

College Board’s Advanced Placement® Program (AP®) enables students to pursue college-level studies—with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both—while still in high school. Through AP courses in 38 subjects, each culminating in a challenging exam, students learn to think critically, construct solid arguments, and see many sides of an issue—skills that prepare them for college and beyond.

Humanities Pathway

The Humanities Pathway encourages learning from multiple perspectives, enabling students to make connections across disciplines. Beginning freshman year, students refine their speech and writing skills, paying particular attention to persuasive, analytical, and journalistic techniques. The Humanities Pathway emphasizes developing critical readers, effective writers, and articulate speakers through the study of literature, social studies, fine arts, and communications. This forms the foundation for selecting higher-level coursework. For more click below:

STEM Pathway

Hill's STEM Pathway immerses students in science, mathematics, engineering and technology, while emphasizing critical thinking and ingenuity. Beginning freshman year, students will engage in 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD), introductory computer programming, and robotics. The STEM Pathway emphasizes real-world collaborative problem-solving skills through project-based learning. This forms the foundation for selecting higher-level coursework. For more click below:

AP Capstone Diploma Program

Hill proudly offers the prestigious AP Capstone Diploma Program, now in its third successful year. As the only Catholic high school on Staten Island with AP Capstone, and the only high school in the area offering it to all students, we're at the forefront of innovative education. This program provides a unique opportunity for students to explore questions that truly matter to them, developing crucial academic skills for college and beyond. Through AP Capstone, students stand out in college applications, showcasing their readiness for higher education.

Enhancing the AP Capstone experience, we host an annual AP Capstone Symposium where exceptional students showcase their AP Seminar and AP Research projects to external audiences. This event not only allows students to demonstrate their newly acquired skills but also provides a platform for them to share their in-depth research and insights with the wider community.

For more click here.

Course Offerings

All our courses are designed with our mission in mind: to educate and empower young women to be confident independent thinkers with strong character and leadership qualities, who stand ready to meet society’s challenges.

Our curriculum encourages students to synthesize information from religion, world language, social studies, language arts, and science to understand the world they live in, apply math and technology to harness, chronicle, and make sense of that information, and use critical thinking skills, creativity, and collaboration to create, design, engineer and communicate new ideas and solutions that meet society's challenges.

For more details on specific subjects follow the links here:

Daily Bell Schedule

Programs of Study