Complete preparation
for college and workforce success
OUR PROGRAMS: HIGH SCHOOL


Take the next step of your journey toward exciting college and workforce experiences. With focused college and career advising, dual enrollment courses, and enrichment opportunities, Heights offers comprehensive high school services embedded in Philadelphia schools for year-round support.
School-based programming
Experience career and college advising, exposure, and enrichment at one of Heights’ high school district partners. Heights coordinators lead school-wide programming and recruit cohorts; students also work directly with Heights advisors for intensive 1:1 advising.
Join 24 fellow students for intensive advising and additional programming and enrichment opportunities. Participants meet privately with advisors as well as in groups for regular check-ins. Advising topics include:
- 9th grade: Pathways – peer spotlight and cohort building
- 10th grade: Pathways – career exposure, fit, and research
- 11th grade: Postsecondary pathways – pathway plan
- 12th grade: Postsecondary pathways – application, selection, and placement
Tap into FAFSA support, college trips, and career days. Participants benefit from preparation for the SAT and ACT.
Heights offers targeted, strategic academic enrichment opportunities to help build critical thinking and reasoning skills, strengthen writing abilities, and introduce students to the academic rigor and pace of college-level work.
- Dual enrollment: Experience higher education curriculum and accumulate transferable college credits that reduce cost and time to degree, as well as ensuring better preparation for career-connected college majors.
- Blended Learning Initiative: Learn to use Arduino-based robotics and coding, and apply advanced math and science concepts plus design thinking to complex problem solving. Offered alongside the University of Pennsylvania, these year-round college-level enrichment courses allow students to attain computer science certifications for a strong start in STEM fields. Spaces in the program are reserved for students from partner high schools.
- Inveniam: Get free educational programming in computer science. Launched alongside Penn Engineering, this first-of-its-kind STEM equity and innovation lab gives socioeconomically underserved students a pathway to the college program — and the technology careers that will define the 21st century.
- Robotics: Join a thriving program engaging students from the 6th to 12th grades. Designed to support Black, Brown, and female students in a field in which they’re commonly underrepresented, this program allows high school scholars to take their STEM work to the next level.
Through 1:1 counseling, résumé preparation, interview skills, job search strategies, and financial planning, Heights helps students create a roadmap to their career. We also connect students to industry-specific programs and internships in high school to build a pipeline to postsecondary jobs.
- Internships: 11th and 12th graders can join paid internship opportunities for greater career experience and exposure. More than 270 Heights participants are engaged in paid internships with partners including The Pennovation Center, Comcast, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, and Temple Health.


Summer programs
Tap into rigorous summer study collaborations with partner colleges. Students explore a variety of topics including writing, environmental science, and career exploration.
Financial support
Established alongside the Philadelphia Youth Network, our enrichmentships provide stipends for all academic and career exposure programs serving 8th to 12th graders.


Ellis Trust for Girls
Through the Ellis Trust, Philly-area high school girls gain tuition assistance, college prep programs, academic enrichment, and other meaningful support.
Our high school partners

Abraham Lincoln High School
Carver Engineering and Science
Central High School
Constitution High School
Franklin Learning Center
George Washington High School
Girard Academic Music Program
Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School
Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School
Kensington Health Sciences Academy
Kensington High School
Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School
Murrell Dobbins Career and Technical Education High School
Northeast High School
Parkway Center City Middle College
Philadelphia High School for Girls
The Academies at Roxborough High School
W.B. Saul High School
William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs
Our vision for high school students
100%
75%
100%
See more of our program pipeline
Middle school
Enter a clearer pathway to high school selection with summer and weekend programs, tutoring, and advising.
College
Gain a college advisor and connections to greater resources — including career opportunities, stipends, and scholarships — at over 70 distinct institutions across the country.
Careers
Launch a life-sustaining career with a solid path to employment in a variety of industries, plus internships, mentoring, and other job opportunities.
Let’s bring a brighter future to life
Join Heights and see how far Philadelphia students can go.