The Hockaday School

Hockaday is a private boarding and day school, an outstanding college preparatory school for girls, offering education from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. The school is located in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1913, Hockaday is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS) and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the National Coalition of Girls' Schools (NCGS), The College Board, the National and Texas Associations for College Admission Counseling (NACAC and TACAC), and the Cum Laude Society. Hockaday provides girls with the best experiential education. The school has already begun implementing this initiative, including two newly formed school-wide working groups that are starting to address the program's priorities. The focus of these two working groups is to innovate students' experiential education. The school is also deeply committed to ensuring students have extraordinary experiences both inside and outside the classroom.

The Hockaday School, founded by Miss Ela Hockaday in 1913, is one of Texas's most prestigious private boarding schools and an excellent college preparatory school for girls. Girls will be able to take advantage of unique courses and opportunities, including activities, the BioSMART Initiative, Model UN, Harvard Debate, MIT Math Competition, and more. The school has three full basketball courts, which can also be converted into four full volleyball courts and a complete competition venue, or an indoor tennis court. The tennis center boasts 10 tennis courts and a tennis center facility.

The campus is new throughout, with advanced facilities and excellent dormitory conditions. The school's annual US undergraduate admissions are very impressive, with students admitted to institutions like MIT, Chicago, Cornell, etc.

### Overall Situation:
- Both liberal arts and sciences are very strong.
- The design of math courses is different from most American high schools. Most American high schools grade by knowledge points, such as Algebra 1 to Geometry to Algebra 2. Hockaday integrates the knowledge points of Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 into integrated mathematics, which some students found a bit more difficult.
- In the past, international students in 9th grade had to take ESOL courses in addition to English 1, so they could only choose a second foreign language in 10th grade. However, this rule was adjusted in 2020. If new students meet the TOEFL score requirement, they can skip ESOL courses.

### Academic Advantages/Features:
- As a girls' school, it places great emphasis on cultivating various qualities and abilities in girls, especially in science and art. In addition to a wealth of AP science courses, the school also offers a large number of in-depth science courses, with biology-related courses being particularly outstanding, such as genomics, human evolution, and public health. In art, painting and music are good, and the dance troupe is even well-known far and wide.
- Debate courses and activities: include introductory and advanced courses; students of different levels can find opportunities.
- Mass Media Course: Every school has platforms like school newspapers where students can participate and publish works. However, Hockaday not only designed professional media courses to allow students to systematically learn relevant knowledge but also turned activities like magazines and school newspapers into credit-earning courses, giving students enough time and motivation to participate in such activities. Therefore, Hockaday's magazine has also won awards nationwide.

### Shangxue Mingde Student Feedback:
- The school's academics are very strong, and English and History have higher writing requirements for students. To get high scores, one must improve their writing skills.
- Math and science courses have some flexibility in course selection. Be sure to communicate and interact with teachers frequently to choose courses suitable for you. If you have a good foundation, you can start AP courses as early as possible.

Hockaday's performing arts curriculum is broad and diverse, including choir, dance, orchestra, theater, and technical theater. Students have numerous opportunities to hone their performance skills both on campus and on larger stages beyond the school. Hockaday has a long-standing tradition of musical theater, becoming the first school in the Southwest to offer a full musical theater program in 1954. Musical theater classes provide students with important performance and technical theater experience, with two productions annually. Additionally, every February, a high school musical is open to all high school students and students from other schools who wish to audition. In the year's many theatrical productions, students play significant roles in set design, props, costumes, lighting, and stage management. The school's dance program offers students opportunities for choreography. Special endowments bring guest artists and choreographers to campus annually. Past guest artists include Lauren Adams Clement, Zac Hammer, Kevin Jenkins, and Jamal Story, among others. In high school, students will audition for the dance company, participate in the concert choir, and in addition to their winter and spring concerts, will have the opportunity to participate in numerous community service outreach performances and perform concerts with professional-level choirs in the area. The school encourages all choirs to audition for TPSMEA All-State, and they are delighted to participate in this festival every year.