Founded in 1885 and rich in history, Columbia High offers academic excellence and a wide range of elective courses and extracurricular activities. The Gothic main building was included as exemplary school architecture in the 1930 Encyclopedia Britannica.

Noted alumni range from sexologist Alfred Kinsey (1912) to architect Peter Eisenman (1950) to Olympic runner Joetta Clark (1980) to Grammy award winning musician Lauryn Hill (1993) and numerous authors. In 1992-93, Columbia High School was named a Blue Ribbon School for Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education. Ultimate Frisbee was invented here in 1968.

Columbia offers a strong college preparatory curriculum, with 24 AP offerings. Five or more Columbia High School seniors are usually selected as National Merit Semi-Finalists each year. Electives include forensic science, TV production, animation and computer graphics, film-making, music technology, philosophy, and Project Adventure, a high ropes course. More than 91% of graduates pursue further education. Recent graduates attend an impressive list of colleges and universities including: Boston College, Brown, Columbia, Cal Tech, University of Chicago, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Howard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers, Stanford, University of Virginia, and Yale.

Outside of the classroom, students participate in championship athletics and an extensive array of extracurriculars, from an award winning literary magazine and student newspaper to a chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America to a Mock Trial team, a state-champion chess team, a cable TV station, Amnesty International, philosophy and opera appreciation clubs, Facing Race and Spectrum (gay and lesbian awareness), a Gospel Choir and many other talented music and drama groups.