The BL Experience
We educate our students wholly by cultivating personal responsibility, emotional intelligence, and character development. We broaden their horizons by exposing them to new challenges and possibilities.
A broad alliance of committed educators, families, and stakeholders supports our students as they seek to understand themselves and their communities. These collaborations provide students with the exposure and opportunities they will need to face and overcome the challenges of tomorrow. Learn more about the hallmarks of the Boys’ Latin experience below.
Intimate Learning Environment
Boys’ Latin is dedicated to the development of confident and independent learners who will be actively engaged as global citizens in our interdependent world. With a 12:1 student/teacher ratio, Boys’ Latin offers a small and supportive learning community in which each young man is encouraged to be the “architect of his own fortune” by pursuing excellence across a range of endeavors.
Cutting-Edge Technology
To position our students to become world citizens for the 21st century, we put technology at the forefront of our educational experience. Boys’ Latin is a 1:1 school. Students in all grades have access to STEM programming. Students learn in spaces equipped with state-of-the-art technology including Chromebooks, SMART boards, Chromebooks, and 3D printers.
Character Education
Through purposeful and reflective teaching, we expand our students’ understanding of manhood and enhance their commitment to making positive contributions to their community and the world. During Freshman Summer Academy, students participate in team-building at the Philadelphia Outward Bound School and explore their identity during the Childhoods lost Foundation’s Black Boy Experience workshops. Throughout the year, all students engage in weekly character education lessons in Advisory and Seminar.
Extended Learning Opportunities
We firmly believe that there is a “learning-time gap” driving the educational achievement gap. To address this inequity, we operate on an extended day schedule, offer Saturday School monthly, and require incoming sixth and ninth grade students to attend summer academies. As a result, our students receive 25% more hours of instruction than their peers across Philadelphia.
Peer Accountability
At the beginning of their high school career at Boys’ Latin, each student signs the Honor Pledge, a commitment to upholding the school’s core values of scholarship, integrity, and brotherhood. When a student violates this pledge they are referred to the Honor Council, a committee elected by their peers, or to Peer Mediation. Through these student-run programs, students are accountable to themselves, to their peers, and to the entire school community.
Exploratory Learning
We believe in the value of learning through experiences outside of the traditional classroom space. Strong partnerships with local and national non-profits and corporations enable dozens of Boys’ Latin students to participate in programs like North Carolina Outward Bound, Philadelphia Financial Scholars, SPARK, and Summer Search. Through these transformational experiences, our students grow as leaders, learners, and men.
Travel Opportunities
Critical to becoming an engaged global citizen is the opportunity to see the world. Boys’ Latin students develop an understanding of and appreciation for different cultures by traveling around the country and world through various study away programs and school-sponsored trips. Each summer, a Boys’ Latin student is selected for a full scholarship to study Latin at the prestigious Paideia Institute in Rome. Last fall, one student spent the semester at The Mountain School in Vermont. Each year, teachers lead trips abroad to countries like Iceland and Costa Rica. Partnerships with local community organizations have allowed students to travel to France (Take A Trip Foundation) and China (Bala Cynwyd-Narberth Rotary).
Senior Fieldwork
As a capstone of their academic experience at Boys’ Latin, each student completes the Senior Class Project. Seniors deeply explore a professional field of interest by, first, researching and writing a college-level paper on a topic relevant to the field. They then spend 50+ hours shadowing, volunteering or interning with professionals working or studying in the desired field. Fieldwork provides students with a clear idea of the day-to-day responsibilities, undertakings, and operations involved in the respective fields. The project culminates with a final presentation of their research and experiential learning to the
Boys’ Latin community.