About Aviation High School
Aviation High School (AHS) is the only college preparatory aviation-themed high school in the Northwest. It is our goal to become the premier school of choice for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in the Pacific Northwest.
We opened in 2004 with the inaugural class of freshmen and are now at capacity of 400 students in grades 9-12.
AHS is a small school with a big vision — namely the belief that students can be simultaneously prepared for the rigors of college and the performance demands of a high-tech world and workplace. We believe that the work of school can be like the work outside the classroom and still be academically rigorous, and that with the right instructional approach it is possible for
all students to be prepared for higher education and work in a knowledge-based, global economy. In 2009 and 2010, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction awarded AHS with the
Washington Achievement Award. In 2011, OSPI designated AHS as Innovative School.
Although Highline Public Schools is the home of this unique learning community, students throughout the Puget Sound region may apply. This year, about 50 percent were local students and the rest commuted from surrounding districts, some as far away as Olympia, Everett, and Bremerton. Many aspire to become scientists, engineers, astronauts, pilots, aviation technicians, and CEOs in aviation/aerospace fields. Many are drawn by the school's focus on math, science and technology. Some are simply drawn by our unique approach to teaching and learning.
For the first three years, the school was located on the Duwamish campus of South Seattle Community College (SSCC), close to Boeing Field, airports, The Museum of Flight, and hundreds of aviation-related enterprises that provide opportunities to extend and enrich learning. Since the college was expanding its programs and student enrollment at the same time that Aviation High School was reaching its capacity, we relocated the school to Olympic Middle School in Des Moines.
It is important that the school ultimately be located within the Boeing Field vicinity to fully realize its vision and mission, so we are pleased to announce that plans are underway to construct a permanent school on property that has been offered by The Museum of Flight, adjacent to their Airpark. We anticipate we will move into our new home in the fall of 2013.