Grades 9-12

Boys learning from Landon’s 30 full-time and adjunct music faculty gain from the expertise of some of the best musicians in Washington, D.C. Besides teaching music classes, they also offer private lessons to band and strings players, where they impart the knowledge earned over careers that have spanned stages from the Kennedy Center to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. 

Academic credit is available for participation in the Chamber Singers, the Bearitones a capella group for upperclassmen, handbells, symphonic band, jazz ensemble, percussion ensemble, and strings ensemble.

The studio art track at Landon begins with a course in drawing before opening to electives in painting, architecture, ceramics, digital art, advanced drawing, sculpture, and photojournalism. Our studio teachers are celebrated artists who have a passion for helping young artists refine their skills.

Landon boys take pride in the work that hangs in the Landow Gallery on campus, and often earn awards for work submitted to regional and national competitions. Boys can also participate in the production of our arts magazine Prometheus Unbound.

Boys enjoy the opportunity to study acting as a craft, honing their skills under trained drama teachers. They can also design and build sets and position lights behind the scenes of productions.

Landon and Holton-Arms School put on three full-length productions each year, one musical and two non-musical. Past productions include Chicago, The Crucible, Newsies, Damn Yankees, and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. In addition to theatrical class and full productions, boys can join the Improv Club or write and direct an original play in our annual Director’s Workshop.

Ehren Federowicz is head of the Upper School. He is a graduate of Milton Academy, and earned a B.S. in Biochemical Science at the University of Vermont.  He taught chemistry at the Gunston School and served as a teacher placement counselor for independent schools in the United States and abroad at Independent Educational Services. Mr. Federowicz arrived at Landon is 2002 and has taught chemistry, coached soccer, hockey, and golf, and served as a form dean and Upper School assistant head. In 2010, he was appointed as the Upper School head.

Federowicz leads a team that includes Assistant Head Ardis Danon, Dean of Students Mike Derwinski, grade-level deans, a guidance counselor, college counselors, advisors, teachers, and coaches.  

Landon School has a 10-day class cycle, so your schedule changes from day to day. That means you will take subjects at different times each day to experience every class when you are feeling your best. You will also never have more than two classes in a row without a break.

The day starts with community time at 8:05 a.m., which can be a meeting with your advisor, an Upper School assembly, or study hall. Our “unbreakable break” after the first two classes is a prime opportunity for you to meet with teachers for extra help, collaborate with classmates on a project, grab a snack, or spend time with friends.

Landon’s long lunch period (12:25–1:35 p.m. each day) gives you ample time to have a bite to eat and work on a community service project, attend singing rehearsals for an upcoming performance, hit a deadline for the Brown & White yearbook, or meet with the Chess, Film, or Improv clubs. 

Athletics begin at 3:30 p.m. every day and are required for every Landon student.

You will take required classes in the traditional subjects: English, history, math, science, and world languages (choose from French, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish). We have a wide range of electives that include architecture, constitutional law, forensic science, meteorology, oceanography, and photojournalism. Multivariable calculus is offered as part of a joint program with Holton-Arms School.

We also offer 32 accelerated and honors courses, and our signature Humanities course, required for every Grade 11 student, is similar to a college seminar. The class considers the great intellectual achievements of world civilization and is known for its inspired debates among students and faculty.

Landon does currently offer Advanced Placement (AP) classes, but we will be moving beyond the AP course offerings by the 2022–23 school year. Moving beyond AP courses will allow our teachers to design and offer a wider variety of courses that are more rigorous and enriching, provide opportunities for our boys to have more authentic engagement with the world, and demonstrate respect for students’ intellectual curiosity and interests. 

Landon requires all Grade 9 and new Grade 10 students to purchase a Microsoft Surface computer that will be family-owned. Students in Grades 11-12 are grandfathered into our voluntary Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program.

We understand every boy learns differently. If you need extra help, a learning specialist from our Center for Teaching and Learning Resources will work with you to develop a plan tailored to help you achieve your goals, complete your work on time, and develop confidence in your learning style. 

Our orientation program helps new students make friends and become acquainted with the school before the academic year even begins. We also require Grade 9 students (Form III) to play on an interscholastic team in the fall, and those practices begin in the summer before school starts. With small class sizes (the average is 14 boys), you will get to know your classmates well once school does begin. Between sports, music groups, lunch, and clubs, there are plenty of other ways to meet new people and connect. The class of 2019 launched a peer-to-peer advisory program, pairing up each senior with a freshman, to support our ninth graders' transition to Upper School.

In your Grade 9 year, you will take a class called Foundations, which is a discussion-based course in which students review and analyze case studies on core values such as kindness, respect, and inclusivity. A big part of this class is to engage with your classmates in reflective exercises to help you better understand the benefits of embracing these values.

In Grade 10, there is a mandatory leadership class in which students reflect on and identify their individual strengths and areas for growth as a leader. You will also identify the character traits that affect your ability to lead, especially the importance of empathy.

There are also ethics assemblies in the Upper School, service opportunities, and leadership summits with Holton-Arms School. Landon's Director of Ethics, Service, and Leadership John Bellaschi coordinates this programming.

In order to help you manage your academic life, you have access to your grades online. We believe it promotes student responsibility and ownership of the academic experience. Advisors, grade-level deans, and learning specialists are eager to help you learn how to handle any academic conversations as this will be a skill you will utilize in college and beyond.

The Upper School offers 22 courses in music, theater, and the studio arts. You are required to take two years of classes in the arts, but are encouraged to take more if you so choose. You may join one of our performance groups—with options including the Chamber Singers, Jazz Band, Strings Ensemble and Handbells—and receive instruction from the 30 musicians who make up our full-time and adjunct music faculty. Visual arts classes range from drawing (a requirement), painting, sculpture, photojournalism, ceramics, and media arts. If you are interested in theater, you can take our theatrical arts class; act in or join the set crew of our three annual joint productions with sister school Holton-Arms; participate in the Improv Club; and write and direct your own short play as part of our annual Director’s Workshop.

Spprts begin at 3:30 p.m. every day and are required for every Landon student. We offer 22 athletics options in the Upper School: 19 interscholastic sports (some of which have varsity, junior varsity, and freshman teams), winter intramurals, and afterschool strength and conditioning classes that teach the keys to physical fitness. Here are your choices by season:

Fall

• Cross country, football, soccer, water polo, volleyball

Winter

• Basketball, ice hockey, indoor track and field, riflery, squash, swimming and diving, wrestling

Spring

• Baseball, fencing, golf, lacrosse, rugby, tennis, outdoor track and field, Ultimate Frisbee

Strength and conditioning is offered all three seasons.

Yes. Athletics at Landon are “cocurricular,” which means that every student across the entire school is required to participate in a sport (varsity, club, or intramural) each season. We offer 22 athletics options in the Upper School, including 19 interscholastic sports. And you may choose to take afterschool strength and conditioning classes that teach the keys to physical fitness. All freshmen are required to play an interscholastic sport for the fall season to help them connect with their peers and transition to life in the Upper School.

The Landon Upper School offered 43 clubs for the 2020-21 school year to provide an opportunity for you to explore extracurricular interests. They include:

• Architecture and Real Estate Club
• Bad Movie Club
• Black Student Union
• Chess Club
• Chinese Club
• Community Service Club
• Drama Society
• Entrepreneurship Club
• Ethics Club
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes
• Jewish Student Alliance
• Model United Nations
• Peer Tutoring
• Science Bowl
• Spanish Club
• Young Democrats
• Young Republicans
• Varsity A Capella

Community service is voluntary at Landon, but we offer a wealth of options to serve others. Our dean of students and Community Service Club organize a robust schedule of volunteer opportunities and host an annual community service fair to provide you with numerous options to serve. All of our athletics teams are also committed to participating in service projects during their season and throughout the year. We also encourage participation in our annual "Day of Service" event at A Wider Circle on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

The same men and women who teach you in the classroom also coach you in sports, advise you on the Student Council and yearbook, and direct you in the latest Landon-Holton musical—so they know you well and are always willing to field questions and, when you need it, offer advice. In addition to your teachers, you have a faculty advisor, an academic dean, and a guidance counselor to talk to. You will meet with your advisor several times during the week— both one on one and in groups with other students—to discuss what is happening at school, in your life, or in the world.