Academics
Williams has a strong Advanced Placement and Honors program to challenge the upper tier of its students. During the 2008-2009 school year, 211 students took 535 Advanced Placement courses, the highest number of students taking the courses in the district (Burlington Times-News, October 28, 2009). Graduates of Williams have been accepted to notable universities, including Caltech, Davidson College, Duke University, Elon University, George Washington University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University, Princeton University, Yale University, Swarthmore, The United States Military Academy, Wake Forest University, Wofford College, George Washington University, The United States Naval Academy, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The school has an English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Williams school offers three foreign languages: French, Latin, and Spanish. Williams has produced eighteen University of North Carolina Morehead-Cain Scholars (the first being in 1957, and the most recent in 2010), two recipients of the Benjamin Duke Scholarship at Duke University (the most recent in 2010), several North Carolina Teaching Fellows (the most recent in 2011), several North Carolina State University Park Scholars (most recently in 2009), and recently an Appalachian State Chancellor's Scholarship (most recently in 2009). Students are able to accumulate college credits through collaborative programs with Alamance Community College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Elon University. One of the school's unique social studies course offerings is a class dedicated to the 1960s. Students have also participated in the annual North Carolina Governor's School program.
Under the leadership of math instructor James Smith, the school has had numerous state-level Quiz Bowl championships in 1997, 2000, and 2001. http://www.qbwiki.com/wiki/Public_Library_Quiz_Bowl
Williams is one of several area high schools whose students are eligible to participate in the Elon Academy summer college preparatory program at Elon University.
Since its inception, Williams has participated in foreign student exchange programs several times. The school has hosted students from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Serbia, and Sweden.
Read more about this topic: Walter M. Williams High School
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“Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with a vested interest in stressing only some of the implications and falsifying others. The idea that academics should remain “above the fray” only gives ideologues license to misuse our work.”
—Stephanie Coontz (b. 1944)
“Our first line of defense in raising children with values is modeling good behavior ourselves. This is critical. How will our kids learn tolerance for others if our hearts are filled with hate? Learn compassion if we are indifferent? Perceive academics as important if soccer practice is a higher priority than homework?”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)