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The Hunter College Campus Schools (HCCS) in New York City are comprised of Hunter College Elementary School (HCES), grades K-6, and Hunter College High School (HCHS), grades 7-12. They are publicly funded, specialized schools whose mission is specifically designed to educate intellectually and academically gifted students.

A faculty of committed leaders and innovators in the field of gifted education use teaching methods designed to develop critical and creative thinking while also offering their students opportunities to accelerate learning and to study topics in great depth.

The Campus Schools aspire to be a community with a student population that reflects New York’s diversity; that fosters respect for and appreciation of individual and cultural differences; emphasizes social responsibility, community service and good citizenship; and values civility and ethical behavior.

The high school years are characterized by a rigorous college preparatory education in the liberal arts and sciences which prepares students to attend the nation’s leading colleges and universities, as well as for lifelong leadership and achievement. A wide array of extra curricular activities and a program rich in the visual and performing arts are also available for students.

Established in 1896 as “The Female Normal and High School,” a private school to prepare young women to become teachers, Hunter now offers a competitive college preparatory program for both genders. The original school was composed of an elementary and a high school. A kindergarten was added in 1887, and in 1888 the school incorporated a college. The high school was separated from what would become Hunter College in 1903. In 1914, both schools were named after the Female Normal School’s first president, Dr. Thomas Hunter.  Despite its success in teaching generations of gifted young women, it was almost closed by Hunter College President Jacqueline Wexler in the early 1970s.

Hunter was an all-girls school for the first 104 years of its existence. The prototypical Hunter girl was the subject of a song entitled “Sarah Maria Jones,” who, the lyrics told, had “Hunter in her bones.” The school became co-ed in 1974 as a result of a lawsuit by Hunter College Elementary School parents, a development which was described by the New York Daily News with the headline “Girlie High Gets 1st Freshboys”. In January 1982, the school was featured in a New York Magazine article entitled “The Joyful Elite.”

The high school has occupied a number of buildings throughout its history, including one at the East 68th Street campus of the College (1940–1970). In the 1970s it was housed for several years on the 13th and 14th floors of an office building at 466 Lexington Avenue (at East 46th Street).  The current location (since 1977) is at East 94th Street between Park and Madison Avenues, occupying the historical 94th Street Armory. The brick facade and near-windowless classrooms have led to its being given the popular moniker of “The Brick Prison” among its “inmates”. The high school and Hunter College Elementary School are both housed in this building, and are collectively known as the Hunter College Campus Schools.

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Nearest subway station: 96th street stop on the 6 line
Nearest bus stop: 96th and Lexington or 96th and 5th Avenue M98 (limited), M101, M103, M102 and the M106 (crosstown)