A world of experiences, relationships, & rewards. It's more than what I achieve. It's who I become.

A young student wearing a school uniform and glasses is intently focused on something in front of them, with a classroom environment visible in the background.

Upper School

Grades 9-12

Detroit Country Day Upper School students belong to a vibrant intellectual community filled with challenging, broad, and meaningful daily experiences. Reflecting our motto, mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body), students engage in two sports or major activities alongside clubs, performing arts, and academic competitions. Graduates leave equipped with lifelong lessons that alumni say sustain them for years to come.

Our comprehensive college-preparatory curriculum features Honors and Advanced Placement courses across all disciplines, empowering students to engage in their learning, pursue their passions, and build independent problem-solving skills. Supported by an advisory program where mentors serve as a guiding north star, our dynamic classrooms foster critical thinking, social confidence, and emotional growth.

Here, students learn to unlock the best version of themselves.

"In my years of teaching at DCDS, I have come to have great confidence in the fact that students are going to experience intellectual growth. But I think the most powerful part of this education is that we are nurturing strong, competent, and compassionate leaders." Teneka Singleton, Assistant Head of School and Upper School Director

A person wearing a virtual reality headset is interacting with a computer screen displaying a virtual environment.

The image depicts a display of various colorful and elaborate dresses and costumes, including a long green dress with a red bow, a blue dress, and a purple feathered dress, all displayed on mannequins in what appears to be a clothing or costume shop.

three students stand around beakers in chemistry lab

Two students studying with math manipulative on table

students throw powdered color while wearing white

four students gather around a microscope in science lab

two students tinker in the Makerspace Lab

Women's volleyball and women's lacrosse teams recognized during Thursday Assembly

Smiling teacher speaks to students seated a desks

Math, Science, & Computer Science

We offer coursework for students at every level, including those ready for college-level challenges. Below is a sampling of some of our courses.

Multivariable Calculus

Advanced Linear Algebra

This is a one-semester college-level course that begins with a review of the Gram-Schmidt Process covered in MA511H. Applications explored include: vectors and the rotation of objects and relations in 2- and 3-Space, solving systems of differential equations, and exploring fractals defined by matrix transformations in 2- and 3-Space. The full range of topics covered during the semester depends on each class’ background and experience.

HONORS PHYSICS

Honors physics presents first-year students with a mathematically sophisticated investigation of the everyday world. Topics of study include: motion–kinematics and dynamics, gravity, momentum, energy and work, heat, waves, light, sound, geometric and physical optics, electricity, magnetism, special relativity and modern physics. Though similar in topic to the introductory course, honors physics uses a higher level of mathematics for modeling and problem-solving. Laboratory work and classroom demonstrations provide opportunities that enliven and challenge students through every unit of study. This is the preferred first-year course for students planning to continue with Advanced Placement physics.

PRE-ENGINEERING: DESIGN THINKING & SYSTEMS

Engineering is a transformative discipline that profoundly impacts human lives and the world around us. This student-centered course engages students in authentic engineering experiences through a hands-on, project-based environment. Emphasizing design thinking, students engage in collaborative, student-directed projects and design challenges, developing transferable abilities in critical thinking, systematic problem-solving, and creative design. The course provides an overview of engineering fields and is based on the Engineer Your World Program in partnership with the University of Texas.
This course is offered in two semesters (USC111 and USC112), which may be taken independently or together in sequence.

Introduction to Game Development

Humanities & History

We offer coursework for students at every level, including those ready for college-level challenges. Below is a sampling of some of our courses.

AP LITERATURE & COMPOSITION

The course is designed to introduce students to the breadth and depth of English literature. Students study major writers of various periods and discuss significant narrative elements, social patterns, and ideological movements that influenced the writers of each age. Analytic papers and presentations require a working comprehension and application of critical assumptions and methods of New Criticism, New Historicism, Reader Response, Feminism, and Marxism. The authors and texts studied may include: Beowulf, selections from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, Shakespeare’s King Lear or The Tempest, key passages from Milton’s Paradise Lost, Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Stevenson’s Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the poetry of: Donne, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, Barrett-Browning, and W. B. Yeats.

HONORS RHETORIC, COMPOSITION, INNOVATION & CREATIVITY

An honors rhetoric course for writers. Students develop advanced rhetorical analysis skills by examining a range of nonfiction sub-genres — including memoir, investigative journalism, lyric essay, satire, personality profile, short- and long-form argument, popular review, advertising, documentary, and blogging. For each sub-genre, students analyze assigned readings, complete rhetorical analysis essays, and produce a peer-edited creative piece in that style. The course builds students' ability to identify rhetorical strategies and fallacies, evaluate arguments, and apply these skills to their own writing.

HONORS APPROACHES TO KNOWLEDGE

Approaches to Knowledge (ATK) centers critical inquiry on Ways of Knowing, asking questions like "What counts as knowledge? What are its limits? Who owns it? What is its value?" What distinguishes ATK from standard academic disciplines is its focus on the student as knower — articulating and justifying personal knowledge claims alongside an understanding of knowledge as a human construction. Unit papers blend reflective research and response theory, prompting students to connect their own justifications with existing knowledge claims, counterclaims, and alternative perspectives.
Students examine the influence of politics and religion through multiple lenses, with particular attention to logical fallacies and fallacious reasoning as they appear in modern life and social media, including propaganda. Readings include Plato's Republic (Book 7), Huxley's Brave New World, Rand's Anthem, Hobbes' Leviathan (Part I, Ch. XIII), Hesse's Siddhartha, and contemporary articles on intercultural perspectives and philosophical belief systems.

LITERARY & CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON SPORTS

Contemporary culture places extraordinary value on sports: we devote a great deal of energy, money, emotion, and other resources to sports. Through a series of literary pieces – epic, drama, novel, short story, and poetry – this course will examine sports as a metaphor for meaningful relationships and values passed down through generations, from Homer to August Wilson. Papers, projects, tests, and quizzes will provide students with opportunities to hone their skills relative to formal analysis, reader response, research, and oral presentation.

Library Services

Our Values

We believe...

that intellectual freedom is a fundamental right for all
that literacy is an essential skill across all platforms and disciplines
that reading for personal information and enjoyment leads to lifelong learning
that respect for intellectual and creative property is everyone's responsibility

Our Mission

Teach, Inspire, Explore

Staffed with a professional librarian, the Upper School Library is designed to meet a variety of informational needs and learning styles of the students. There are places for quiet and small group study, classes and relaxed reading. The resources mirror the developing curriculum and technology components of the school.

Print and online collections are updated on a continual basis. Digital resources are available for all subject areas. The library website provides easy access to all of these resources.

The primary focus of the Library program is to collaborate with departments to support the curriculum and prepare them for research at the collegiate level. Instruction focuses on two primary areas:

Research skills and information literacy
Responsible use of resources
Reading for pleasure and personal learning

Language & Interdisciplinary

We offer coursework for students at every level, including those ready for college-level challenges. Below is a sampling of some of our courses.

Latin America: History, Culture & Traditions

This course will provide an overview of the main historical, economic, geographical, political, and cultural aspects of Latin America and Latinos in the US. The course will begin by studying the historical and ethnic background of this region of the world, and will later examine its present economic, cultural, and socio-political conditions. This course will also analyze the significant challenges and struggles that Latin America faces during this era of globalization, including its relationship with the United States, examining several contemporary issues such as immigration and the role of Latinos in the US.

Quebec: History, Culture & Traditions

In this course, students will learn how Quebec became a predominantly French-speaking province in the predominantly English-speaking continent of North America. An in-depth overview of Quebec history, culture, and traditions will include an overview of the French dialect in Quebec and the impact of language attitudes on the Quebec region. This class will provide students the opportunity to practice and improve their French skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) while learning the rich history and culture of Quebec.

Global Initiatives

The DCDS Global Initiatives Program aims to prepare students for life with an educational experience that is beyond a desk, beyond the classroom, and beyond the walls of a single institution. It is a challenging program geared for students who seek to learn, engage, and contribute to broader, more diverse global contexts. The comprehensive program prepares students to develop as active, informed, and empathetic global citizens.

There are two components of the Global Initiatives Program, and students may choose the component(s) with which they feel most comfortable. The two components are:

GLOBAL SCHOLARS

Science, history, English, and world language courses which have a global emphasis are the core components of this 2-year program. Students have the opportunity to travel abroad and/or host students from another country.
Contact: Celeste Mahabir, cmahabir@dcds.edu

GLOBAL COMMUNITY (Global Exchange)

Students have the opportunity to travel and host students from DCDS Partner Schools in the Netherlands (Grade 8), France, and Spain (Grades 9-12). This program promotes international understanding and cultural immersion, and focuses on world languages.
Contact: Elizabeth Lebovic, elebovic@dcds.edu

AP BUSINESS

This year-long course aligns closely with a college-level introduction to business course and is intended to prepare students for the AP Business exam in May. Students will explore entrepreneurship, marketing, management, and business finance and accounting. In addition, students will learn about personal finance, including saving, borrowing, budgeting, and investing. This course will include real-world business applications and case studies. Students can expect to experience project-based assessments in addition to more traditional forms of assessment.

Senior Project

The Senior Project has been a capstone of our students' senior year since 1968. Taking place in May, the program is designed as an educational extension of the classroom, encouraging students to explore an area of interest in a real-world work environment. Past projects have included public relations and marketing for a professional sports team, shadowing in medical and dental offices, assisting in classrooms, working as interns at radio and TV stations, serving as a research assistant in a university science lab, and many more. At the culmination of the project, seniors will prepare a visual representation of their project via print or digital mediums at a fair-style event in June. Members of the community are then invited to attend the fair and speak with the seniors about their experiences.

A world of experiences, relationships, & rewards. It's more than what I achieve. It's who I become.

Upper School

Grades 9-12

Math, Science, & Computer Science

Multivariable Calculus

Advanced Linear Algebra

HONORS PHYSICS

PRE-ENGINEERING: DESIGN THINKING & SYSTEMS

Introduction to Game Development

Humanities & History

AP LITERATURE & COMPOSITION

HONORS RHETORIC, COMPOSITION, INNOVATION & CREATIVITY

HONORS APPROACHES TO KNOWLEDGE

LITERARY & CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON SPORTS

Library Services

Our Values

Language & Interdisciplinary

Latin America: History, Culture & Traditions

Quebec: History, Culture & Traditions

Global Initiatives

AP BUSINESS

Senior Project

Immersion, Innovation & Inspiration. A Vibrant, Diverse, and Welcoming, Community.

Lower School PK-Grade 3

Middle School Grades 4-8

Upper School Grades 9-12