Southern Columbia Area High School - Catawissa, PA

Nestled among farm fields in the southern section of Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Southern Columbia Area High School strives to provide a challenging environment where students can enjoy learning. In pursuit of the District's mission to afford students a "dynamic, rigorous and relevant learning environment that meets the needs of today's learner," the school offers a differentiated and diverse curriculum giving students the opportunity to enroll in career and technical education studies, honors courses, science and technology labs, Advanced Placement courses, fine arts, life skills, and other programs of studies designed to prepare them for an endless array of career pathways.

Vibrant 1:1, STEM, and farm to school initiatives offer students ever-increasing opportunities to engage in experiential learning. Approximately 40% of the senior class is enrolled in college courses, and in any given year, 60-70% of the student body can be expected to participate in the school's extra-curricular and interscholastic activities. During the past five years, the High School's graduation rate has averaged 96.8%, serving as evidence that students find the school's program of studies to be engaging and relevant.

Education is highly-valued by the school's stakeholders and is viewed as the key to each student's future success and progress. "The practice that makes our school so successful," states High School Principal Jim Becker, "is offering opportunity! Giving students every opportunity possible, eliminating barriers to those opportunities, and supporting those opportunities, is what drives our school's teachers, staff, and leadership teams, as well as the members of the community it serves!"