Welcome to Woodside High School

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  • Events for Future Families

  • Helpful Links to Explore the School

  • About Woodside High

  • College Acceptance News

  • School News

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Parent Organizations

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About Woodside High School

Over its half-century, Woodside High School has emerged as one of the most dynamic and diverse comprehensive high schools on the San Francisco Peninsula. Woodside High School students graduate ready to take on the challenges of a fast-paced college environment and with a unique understanding of a complex society based on their experience in our diverse community. Our mission is to provide opportunities for all students to access the highest standards of academic excellence while fostering athletics and the arts, cultivating an environment where every student can grow into well-rounded individuals. 

The mid-peninsula is an area of great economic diversity containing some of the most affluent and the most economically deprived communities in the state. Just north of Silicon Valley and Stanford University, Woodside High School is influenced greatly by the rapidly evolving business and cultural interests of the region. We have been listed in Newsweek Magazine’s list of top high schools, and offer one of the most rigorous advanced placement college preparatory programs in the region.

Enrollment 2025-2026

  • Total student enrollment: 1,711

  • Senior enrollment: 404

  • 62% of students self-identify as students of color

Instruction

  • # of Elective options: 83

  • # of AP/Honors courses offered: 20

  • % of faculty with advanced degree: 70

Arts,  Activities and Athletics

  • 59 Student run Clubs

  • 33% of students are enrolled in one or more Advanced Placement (AP) courses and collectively take 1,207 tests in May

  • 30% of students are enrolled in a small-cohort academy: Green Academy, Graphics and Tech Academy or AVID

  • # of large-scale theatre productions: 2

  • # of music concerts played in the concert hall: 2

  • # of student-run club: 50+ 

  • # of athletic teams: 40+

  • # of varsity sports offered: 20+

College News: The Class of 2024 Graduated to Success

We are proud that 94% of graduates are attending college. Woodside High School is socio-economically, ethnically, and academically diverse. Educating all students to their highest potential and preparing all students for post-secondary success is a challenge embraced at Woodside High School. Over half of the Class of 2024 are attending 4 year colleges, and the other 40% are attending 2 year colleges. Students also joined the military, are taking a gap year, enrolled in trade programs, or are working.

The Class of 2024 are attending elite private colleges such as Amherst, Brown, Duke, Penn, Parsons, Wake Forest and many others; out-of-state public universities including University of Arizona, Michigan State, and University of Oregon; all University of California campuses with many attending UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis; California State schools; and many students will attend nationally ranked community colleges, like Canada, Foothill, College of San Mateo and Santa Barbara City College, with plans to matriculate to a UC or CSU. 

College Acceptances and Destinations

Class of 2024
Class of 2023
Class of 2022
Class of 2021 - Not available due to pandemic
Class of 2020
Class of 2019
Class of 2018
Class of 2017

Wildcat News

WHS National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists!
L to R: WHS Seniors Madeline Lee, Ishan Harbury, Astra Adams, Natalie Arai, Kate Stevenson, and Grace Coffee are among the 16,000 high school students in the graduating class of 2025 (less than 1% of all U.S. seniors), who were named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Go Wildcats!

2025 Spring Play – Shrek the Musical
A magical and musical odyssey through swamps and castles with everyone’s favorite ogre and donkey at the Performing Arts Center.

2025 Next Steps Day

2025 Pacific Northwest College Tour
The College Access Program (CAP) funded free trips for 20 Juniors over 3 days to visit colleges in the Pacific Northwest to ensure that every student has the opportunity to prepare for college and be inspired to dream big. The students visited University of Washington, University of Oregon, Reed College, Oregon State, Portland State, and Seattle University among others. 

SoCal 2024 College Tour  The College Access Program (CAP) funded a free trip for 60 Juniors over 3 days to visit colleges in Southern California to make sure all students are preparing for college and dreaming big. The Students visited Cal State Fullerton, Chapman University, UCLA, Univ. of Southern California USC, UCSB and Cal Poly - SLO.

National Signing Day  10 Seniors marked a milestone after years of hard work and dedication, they committed to playing college sports as part of National Signing Day. Congratulations to: Arielle Bruk - Chapman University (volleyball); Audrey Chung - Brown University (swimming); Connor Davison - Macalester College (baseball); Edana Huang - UC San Diego (swimming); Daniel Mendoza Lucio - DeAnza College (football); Greta Kasle - DeAnza College (volleyball); Katie Myers - Oregon State University (rowing); Harry Pelzman - UC San Diego (baseball); Ben Ricketts - College of San Mateo (football); and Ellery Singleton - University of New Hampshire (volleyball).

Congratulations to seniors Kyla Burfoot, Spencer Bergland and Patrick Van Hoven - WHS National Merit Scholarship FINALISTS!  In February 2024, Principal van Putten had the honor of informing these scholars that they moved to the FINALIST status in the National Merit Scholarship Program and presented them with a Certificate of Merit. All Finalists will be considered for National Scholarship Awards to be offered in 2024. In March, all National Merit Scholarship winners (Merit Scholar® awardees) will be chosen from this group of Finalists based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments.

WHS’s 2024 Commended Students in the National Merit Scholarship Program  Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional promise. Woodside's eleven Commended Students placed among the top 34,000 students who entered the 2024 competition by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) on College Day last October.

"Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success," commented a spokesperson from NMSC. "These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success."

Congratulations to Woodside's Commended Students (alpha order): Leif Austin, Thomas Beasley, Audrey Chung, Lemons Hachigian-Kreutzer, Madeleine Kimbro Norman, Justin Lee, Alya Madhani, Natalia Richter, Tao SatoPerry, Eva Urbanek, and Megan Xu.

College Access Program (CAP) The WHS College Access Program (CAP) is a four-year college prep program free to all Woodside students. CAP includes college visits, standardized test prep, free SAT and PSAT testing, college essay coaching and balanced ‘college list’ creation. WHS uses premier companies, like AJ Tutoring and ObiCoach, to oversee programming in order to ensure quality is on par with what students receive in a private setting. Pictured above is the Class of 2024 visiting colleges in Southern California. CAP programming and college trips are no-cost to students.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella  The spring musical ran for two weeks in March to a full house and a standing ovation after each performance. The actors and actresses had incredible vocal range and timing. The student-designed and fabricated set design was dramatic! And the costumes created the fantasy... Well done student thespians! 

Music Spotlight WHS offers Band, Advanced Band, Guitar I and II, Jazz Ensemble, Orchestra and Choir. Mr. Gaydos, the new and very popular Music Director, is an avid musician himself and plays the trumpet, piano, violin, flute, and oboe.

Art Boom Artists are thriving at Woodside High. Art, Ceramics, Photography, Animation, Film, Digital Arts, and Music hosted a campus art exhibit on the Quad and throughout the Digital, Visual and Performing Arts Building (DVPA).