Urbana

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any feedback on Urbana High School? I know it is rated highly but wanted to know what families who have kids at the school think of it. Considering a move to the area. Thanks

[Anonymous]

NP here and interested in getting more information about this high school too such as what the culture is like- is it more sports oriented vs academic oriented? Is it diverse? I want to be sure before we make such a big move.

[Anonymous]

I have had one child complete one year in-person, and have two enrolled this year.
For comparison, we came from MCPS, where I had 2 other kids graduate from Rockville area schools.
I love Urbana High School - very academic; friendly, competent staff. Great teachers (like any school, some you like better than others). I feel like they've handled the pandemic very well - lots of communication from the school. I have heard from my kids' school counselor (just FYI's and updates, plus communications on schedule changes, etc) more in the past 6 months than I did from my other two kids' MCPS high school in 6 years. My eldest couldn't even find her counselor during senior year, and missed out on some awards because she didn't know she had qualified for them until the deadlines had passed. It's not THAT big of a deal, but very irritating when we kept trying to get in contact with her.
Urbana has more kids enrolled than our MCPS school as well. I have one high achiever child - there is honors and AP offerings, and an IB program. There is also a dual-enrollment program (like wth Montgomery College and MCPS), and a tech school (comparable with Edison).

We are not a sport-oriented family, so I can't speak on that experience. And as for diversity, you'll have to look on the website for the breakdown.
To be fair, I'm somewhat easygoing, so the schools really have to screw up in order for me to talk negatively about it. But so far, I've been nothing but pleased with our decision to move up here. I kind of wish we had done it sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had one child complete one year in-person, and have two enrolled this year.
For comparison, we came from MCPS, where I had 2 other kids graduate from Rockville area schools.
I love Urbana High School - very academic; friendly, competent staff. Great teachers (like any school, some you like better than others). I feel like they've handled the pandemic very well - lots of communication from the school. I have heard from my kids' school counselor (just FYI's and updates, plus communications on schedule changes, etc) more in the past 6 months than I did from my other two kids' MCPS high school in 6 years. My eldest couldn't even find her counselor during senior year, and missed out on some awards because she didn't know she had qualified for them until the deadlines had passed. It's not THAT big of a deal, but very irritating when we kept trying to get in contact with her.
Urbana has more kids enrolled than our MCPS school as well. I have one high achiever child - there is honors and AP offerings, and an IB program. There is also a dual-enrollment program (like wth Montgomery College and MCPS), and a tech school (comparable with Edison).

We are not a sport-oriented family, so I can't speak on that experience. And as for diversity, you'll have to look on the website for the breakdown.
To be fair, I'm somewhat easygoing, so the schools really have to screw up in order for me to talk negatively about it. But so far, I've been nothing but pleased with our decision to move up here. I kind of wish we had done it sooner.

PP when did you make the move? Wondering if it's worth it for me to move my child who will start 8th grade next fall. How was the Middle school for your kids? Are the kids their friendly or is it one of those where it's hard to get into a friend group because most of the kids grew up together?

[Anonymous]

PP when did you make the move? Wondering if it's worth it for me to move my child who will start 8th grade next fall. How was the Middle school for your kids? Are the kids their friendly or is it one of those where it's hard to get into a friend group because most of the kids grew up together?

We moved one year ago - so no experience with the middle school. Kids seem to be nice here; Child One was able to make a few friends at the new school when school was in, but really keeps in touch with the people from the old school. 11 grade, so you can imagine the connections made in the previous years are the ones that he focuses on.

Child Two finished her 8th grade year at her MoCo private last year, so she's brand new at the high school. I am not sure how making new friends is going to go being virtual only. She's far more social, so we will see what happens with that.

Sorry, not the typical move/merging of social lives of the pre-covid times. One thing to note is we did not move into the new communities in Urbana, we wanted land/space. Things might be different in the Villages of Urbana and the other new builds - I see tons of kids/families out and about, and they would all be in the local schools (not a lot of privates out here). I'm sure it would be easier to make connections if you're in that area.