Since its founding, UPA has taken great pride in its small school community. Although UPA has grown from under 500 students to 715, the school has worked hard to keep some of our most treasured traditions alive. One example is our College Field Trip Day, where every grade level except seniors (who attend the Senior Picnic activity) leaves campus to explore a different college campus. This means if a student has been at UPA since 7th grade, they will have had the opportunity to visit five different colleges in the Bay Area before they graduate. This does not include the multi-day Southern California college tour they take as juniors. Since UPA’s mission is to prepare students to enter and excel in the best colleges or universities in the nation, students need to see what various campuses look like and be able to explore places they may not be able to on their own, which is an important focus of the Junior Trip. Another tradition, called “Affirmations,” is unique to our senior class, in which every student writes notes to each member of their senior class over the year. These notes are given to the students during the Senior Banquet, the final night before graduation, where students are acknowledged for their accomplishments and given a gift from the school to show UPA’s appreciation.

As a school, UPA values include a growth mindset, accountability, community, learning, integrity, and collaboration, all of which contribute to the school’s atmosphere of trust, respect, equity, and professionalism. The school is dedicated to investing in each student’s success and creating a safe, supportive, and rigorous learning environment that emphasizes effective teaching, social and intellectual honesty, and working together toward common goals. In junior high, UPA utilizes the Character Strong curriculum, where students do lessons on healthy habit development, social awareness strategies, empathy-building techniques, and more. In addition to social-emotional learning, the school wants our students to be successful in all areas of their lives and when they go out into the world as young adults.

Senior workshops are offered, such as resume writing, and Senior Seminar hosts an annual Mock Interview Day, where students show up to school in business professional attire and are assigned to a triad, where they alternate between being the interviewer, interviewee, and a coach to get practical skills on how to handle common interview questions. The entire school community is committed to fostering a positive and inclusive environment where students feel valued, supported, and challenged. One of the ways this is celebrated is through the yearly academic and UPA values awards ceremonies. While the traditional subject-based awards are awarded, there is also a set of grade-level awards where the staff nominates students they feel embody specific school values. This is a critical part of UPA’s school culture because, while academics are important, UPA wants students to understand that there are many aspects of an individual that deserve equal recognition.