The Power of 100% Boarding | About Us | Episcopal High School

THE POWER OF 100% BOARDING

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What is Boarding School?

A boarding school is an immersive learning environment that offers a live-in campus experience where students reside right where they learn. Academics, athletics, arts, and residential life all happen within the same community, creating an atmosphere where learning extends well beyond the classroom. Students benefit from structure, close relationships with faculty who live alongside them, and constant access to the people and resources that support their growth.

At Episcopal, that idea is taken a step further: every single student boards and 90% of faculty live on campus. EHS is 100% boarding and 100% community. Here you will find your friends, your teachers, your team — your boarding school family. A community of students and faculty who wake in the same place every morning, bound by shared experience, collective pride, and constant availability to one another. All uniquely included. All together. There is no home quite like this one. 

THE UNDENIABLE BENEFITS of 100% boarding

Imagine getting to spend all day, every day, learning and living with your best friends. Imagine never missing out because you’re always there when things happen. Imagine around-the-clock support and fun and the kind of deep relationships that are only possible in a 100% boarding environment. Imagine the powerful sense of truly belonging — to a community, to a place, to a legacy.

“There are a lot of things that make it feel like I belong...”

Hear what community means at EHS

Jacob Orelue ’26

Kingston, Jamaica

Always in the Mix When something happens, you’re already there, an around-the-clock member of this community. Whether going to a game at home or away, exploring Alexandria or Washington, D.C., hanging

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Always in the Mix

When something happens, you’re already there, an around-the-clock member of this community. Whether going to a game at home or away, exploring Alexandria or Washington, D.C., hanging out on dorm, or playing spikeball on the quad, you never miss out.

 

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Standing on Equal Ground

Everyone has the same schedule, lives by the same rules, and has the same access to our faculty, facilities, programming, and network.

 

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Learning Anytime

Evenings can be a time for exciting speakers, performances,and workshops because everyone is still on campus.

 

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Going All In

24/7 immersion in this transformative culture accelerates and strengthens development of leadership and character.

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A Remarkable Sense of Belonging

You get to know teachers and friends so much better when you live/learn/eat/laugh/sweat/play alongside them.

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Everything You Do, All in One Place

Instead of sitting in traffic, you’re free to spend your mornings and afternoons doing the things you love best.

100%

of students live on campus

Episcopal is a fully residential community fostering deep connections, personal growth, and a vibrant student experience.

90%

of faculty live on campus

Providing an immersive, supportive environment where students and teachers build strong, lifelong connections.

10

Dorms

Each with a community kitchen and inviting common space creating a close-knit residential community under the guidance of dedicated faculty.

72

Dorm Parents

Offer guidance and support, creating a strong sense of community in every dorm.

28

faculty living on dorm

Offering students the benefit of daily mentorship, encouragement, and a true family-like community.

2

seated meals

Gathering twice a week in advisory, these family-style meals nurture connection and honor tradition.

7

Advisory Gatherings Weekly

Ensuring quality interaction among students and advisors that foster the family-like connections so integral to life at EHS

WHAT WILL
YOUR SCHOOL DAY LOOK LIKE?

This is your world. Think boldly. Live independently together. Face challenge with strength. Promote good and lead the change.

From the moment you wake, you are with your friends. Each day you will explore a broad and dynamic curriculum and learn through firsthand experiences. You will have teachers that will push you and guide you, and lift you and inspire you.You will be surrounded by bright motivated classmates from many backgrounds.

8:15A.M.

Fuel up for your day

Grab a waffle in Laird Dining Hall then head to your English class in Townsend Hall, where you’ll gather around the Harkness table to discuss recurring themes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

9:35A.M.

CONNECT WITH YOUR TEACHERS

Enjoy the sunshine as you make your way to Baker Science Center to ask your physics teacher some questions during faculty office hours, an open time for individual meetings outside of class. On other days, you share this time with your advisory group. You and the five to seven other students in your group join your faculty advisor seven times each week — at Chapel, Community Gathering, advisory gatherings, and seated meals.

10:05A.M.

PHYSICS CLASS STARTS

After a brief lesson, everyone heads outside for today’s lab experiment. Each set of lab partners will use a high-speed camera to capture flight paths of different objects, then solve for the trajectories.

11:20A.M.

EXPERIENCE THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR GATES

Some days you head to lunch; other times, you head to the buses for a Washington expedition. Today, after a short van trip and a packed lunch from EHS, you and your advanced government class arrive at the Pentagon, where you brief an Army colonel and two colleagues on a hypothetical scenario involving the U.S., Bahrain, and Iran and learn how the situation might play out in the “real world.”

2:00p.m.

Be hands on

Your last class is Latin. Today your teacher takes everyone to the rare books room on campus to examine (very carefully) a Bible belonging to King Henry VIII of England.

WHAT WILL
YOUR Afternoons and Evenings LOOK LIKE?

3:15P.M.

Recharge Together

Catch up with friends on the walk back from class to your room. There “on dorm” you’ll have enough time to call your family before heading out to afternoon options.

4:00P.M.

PURSUE ATHLETIC OR ARTISTIC PASSIONS

From 4–6 p.m., five days a week, you’re off to your afternoon option. All students are involved in an afternoon option or extracurricular program. You’ve chosen soccer for this season, but next season your afternoon activity might be: Jazz dance or pit orchestra for the winter musical; sports media; including calling live games; assisting in the athletic training room; or volunteering at a daycare center through the community service program.

6:30P.M.

SHARE FOOD AND COMMUNITY

After freshening up on dorm, join your advisory group for one of two weekly seated meals in the dining hall (one lunch and one dinner; the rest are served buffet style and all are tech-free). As you pass around the food to share, and then walk together to the chapel service, you feel like you have a second family — and you truly belong.

7:00P.M.

CONTINUE YOUR ACADEMIC PURSUITS

Time is also built in for fun. In the evenings, you might: Prepare for the upcoming robotics team competition in the “Fab Lab” makerspace; challenge yourself at Escape Room Live in Old Town with faculty and friends from your dorm; attend a talk by a visiting alumnus/a to hear the story of their first entrepreneurial venture; join your class for a “math party” in the teacher’s living room to review for a test; or participate in a chocolate cake bakeoff with the Baking Club.

8:00P.M.

IT’S TIME TO STUDY

You’ll be immersed in our daily study hall. You may be studying on dorm, in a designated classroom, or in one of our two libraries on campus. It’s easy to find study groups and faculty who can help answer your questions.

10:15P.M.

SETTLE IN FOR THE NIGHT

Maybe you’ll play cards next door, watch a Netflix show, or talk music with the faculty dorm parent. You’ll begin to unwind and get ready for a good night’s sleep. IT’S BEEN A BUSY — BUT GREAT — DAY!

WEEKENDS are a highlight at ehs

Join friends and faculty to sample the Washington area’s magnificent cultural and entertainment offerings.

The activities faculty and student groups organize outings to shows, museums, games, markets, and events, large and small. Or stay on campus to relax and recharge with fitness classes, games, grilling out, and live music.

Learn more about weekends at EHS

The Washington Nationals Game

Impossible
to Replicate

The school you choose will be your second home. It’s where you’ll shape your intellect and find the best friends of your life. Come find out what makes Episcopal unique among boarding schools.

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There’s nothing we love more than helping people learn about our community, our program, and our campus.

Book your tour today

We look forward to welcoming you to our beautiful hilltop campus in Alexandria, Va., just 10 minutes from Washington, D.C.

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We welcome applications from talented students of good character who are entering grades 9, 10, and 11. Your future starts here.