Bodine High School for International Affairs

Founded in 1981 as a partnership between the School District of Philadelphia and the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs is a magnet school in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia featuring a humanities and foreign-language centered college preparatory program and offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma. Through this partnership, the Council enriches Bodine’s international curriculum and expands globally-focused academic, extra-curricular, and professional opportunities. In addition, the Council provides administrative and community support for student study abroad opportunities. 

The mission of the Bodine High School for International Affairs is to provide urban public school students with a comprehensive educational experience that expands students’ interests to include global issues and prepares them for a lifetime of achievement and participation in the local, national and global communities.

A former Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, Bodine received a Peer Leader award from the School District of Philadelphia in 2016. In 2012, U.S. News and World Report ranked Bodine High School among the top fifty high schools in Pennsylvania. Recently, one of the school’s International Baccalaureate course teachers won a 2017-2018 Lindback Award for Distinguished Public Teachers. Underscoring its mark of excellence is Bodine’s graduation and college matriculation rates, which currently stands at 99% for the class of 2020, with most students matriculating at two- and four-year colleges and universities, technical/vocational certificate programs, or the military. University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, Drexel University, Temple University, Saint Joseph’s University, various Penn State campuses,  University of Pittsburgh, Morgan State University, and East Stroudsburg University are among the schools to which Bodine students were accepted. The Class of 2020 includes one student who received a “full-ride” to attend the University of Pennsylvania through the QuestBridge scholarship program and four “full-rides” to Drexel University through the Liberty Scholars program.

Bodine students actively participate in the Council’s global education programs and are frequent guests at our signature speaker events. The Council-Bodine alliance offers students the extraordinary opportunity to hear and speak with global leaders and influential experts, such as former Secretaries of State General Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush, Paul Ryan, John McCain, John Kerry, and Chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen. The Council also offers the Joan Russell Travel Scholarship each year to two deserving Bodine students who are traveling on the school’s annual Spring Trip Abroad.

In addition, the Council’s Global Leadership Institute, a cohort of well-rounded, internationally competitive professionals from the Council’s Corporate Membership, organize and fundraise for an annual service project that takes place at Bodine. Recent GLI classes have refurbished and painted Bodine’s new sanctuary room for wellness, removed large appliances, furniture, and tech equipment as part of a school-wide cleanout effort, organized college visits, and facilitated college essay writing workshops.

To learn more about Bodine and the Council’s unique private-public partnership, please visit Bodine’s website.  For any additional information about Bodine High School for International Affairs, please contact the Council’s Vice President of Education, Kristin Hutchinson, at khutchinson@wacphila.org.

"The World Affairs Council's partnership with Bodine continues to be invaluable. The speaker events, trips, activities, courses and programs developed in conjunction with the World Affairs Council have provided our students and staff with cultural and global perspectives that might have otherwise been ignored. Our liaison’s hands-on involvement and dedication to the students of Bodine has been the catalyst for the overall program's continued success."
-Faculty Member, Bodine High School