NEXT LEVEL: THE CAMPAIGN FOR UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL

— Shaundra Bason, Director of Development

At UHS, we prove the transformative power of education every day through the experiences of our students and faculty. Our vision is audacious: to continually expand what makes high school meaningful.

Reaching our goals takes commitment and resources, so UHS has launched the Next Level campaign, a $52 million effort that will ultimately give our community the support, physical space, and community connection that are needed for UHS to reach its potential as a school. The Next Level campaign will bring this bold vision to fruition, keeping UHS at the forefront of secondary education. Together, we’ll continue to transform our program, the spaces that unite us, and our ability to inspire a more inclusive, more diverse community.

Leading in the secondary education space requires us to constantly advance how and why high school matters. Supporting the Next Level Campaign will lift up the school and the high school experience by advancing our community’s priorities across multiple fronts:

• Campus transformation to redesign existing facilities and build the California

Street STEM and community campus.

• Program and professional development funding, such as the Lamott Endowment for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Curricular Innovation awards, annual grants that fund the work of inspired teachers in creating curricula that encourage team teaching and interdisciplinary work.

• Faculty support that fuels care and innovation, helping

UHS attract and retain worldclass teachers.

• Student financial aid expansion to help dismantle the barriers that prevent talented students from attending

UHS, and to increase our community’s socioeconomic and cultural diversity.

• Flexible operating support so that we can make the most of opportunities and respond nimbly to challenges.

We have already benefited from the generosity of past and current UHS families and alumni. Under the visionary leadership of our Head of School, Julia Russell Eells, we have prioritized the idea that the physical spaces in which our students learn have a profound impact on their success. Coupling that idea with supporting our faculty and increasing the number of students we have the opportunity to serve, we are poised to continue to lead as a school that not only invests in the education of developing minds, but also shapes the personal and professional trajectories of countless students across generations.

UHS is a school where connections spark our imaginations and elevate our intelligence. It is a place of people, where the connections that we draw together—and that draw us together—are vital. This focus on connection can be seen throughout the planned facilities improvements, taking the school a step higher across each level of our campus. Not only do the Next Level Campaign’s campus transformation plans intend to elevate our facilities and our use of them to catalyze connection, but through a new 50,000-square-foot California Street campus, we will provide— for the first time—the right space for our whole community to be together. We will increase the area of our campus by more than 50%, with spaces devoted to flexible classrooms, fabrication and collaboration spaces, science labs, and social hubs. Our spaces will be customized to meet the creativity and energy of our community while making the student experience across our campus more cohesive—and we are on track to be shovel-ready just two years from now. The Next Level Campaign has the opportunity to catalyze our position as a school that is poised to revitalize the lifelong impact of secondary education. In partnership with the UHS community, we can invest in building up our physical spaces while continuing to build up our students and faculty intellectually and emotionally. With partnership and resources, UHS has the vision and ambition to go to the Next Level. n

To learn more about the Next Level Campaign, contact Director of Development Shaundra Bason at shaundra.bason@sfuhs.org.