The Seven Hills School is a PreK–12

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, United States. It was established in 1974 with roots dating back to 1906 and operates on two campuses; Hillsdale (PreK–12) and Doherty (PreK–5). It is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and is a member of the

National Association of Independent Schools The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, board ...

History

The College Preparatory School for Girls was founded by Mary Harlan Doherty in 1906. In 1916, Helen Lotspeich founded the Clifton Open-Air School. The school was moved from the Clifton neighborhood to its present location on Red Bank Road in 1930. In 1927, another all-girls school called the Hillsdale School opened. A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the school's Deerfield Road location on June 6, 1927, ahead of the official opening on September 28, 1927. An announcement letter from the school's formulating committee stated, "A new Country Junior and Senior High School for girls has been organized in Cincinnati along modern educational lines." The Hillsdale School later merged to form the Hillsdale-Lotspeich School. In the summer of 1955, Hillsdale-Lotspeich obtained 20 acres of land on Red Bank Road, neighboring the existing Hillsdale School. The Hillsdale-Lotspeich School became partially co-educational in 1971. In 1974, the high schools of the College Preparatory School and the Hillsdale-Lotspeich School merged to form the Seven Hills School, operating out of the Hillsdale campus on Red Bank Road. The new school's opening was marked with a convocation on September 19, 1974. Following the merger, the College Preparatory School's location in Madisonville continued to operate as an elementary school, while the Hillsdale campus operated all grades from preschool to twelfth grade. The school undertook two major construction projects in 2001. The 75-year-old upper school building on the Hillsdale campus was demolished to make way for a new building that would be more than twice as big. Upper school classes were held in temporary buildings for a year before the new building opened. Additionally, a 1920s building on the Doherty campus was demolished and replaced with Haile Hall, a new facility housing the preschool, kindergarten, and afterschool programs as well as Doherty's administration offices. In 2024, the school announced plans to close the Doherty campus by the beginning of the 2027-28 school year. Plans at the Hillsdale campus include construction of a new lower school building, expansion of the existing early childhood center, and renovation of Founders Hall.

Athletics

The Seven Hills Stingers are a member of the Miami Valley Conference, which is part of the

Ohio High School Athletic Association The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) is the governing body of athletic programs for junior and senior high schools in the state of Ohio. The OHSAA governs eligibility of student athletes, resolves disputes, organizes levels of comp ...

. Seven Hills has a combined total of ninety-seven teams playing

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

, and squash.

Notable alumni

Mohini Bhardwaj Mohini Bhardwaj (born September 29, 1978) is an American retired artistic gymnast who competed at the 1997 and 2001 World Championships and earned a silver medal with the American team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and is a member of t ...

, Olympic gymnast * Dana Fabe, Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court *

E. R. Fightmaster Emmett Rogers Fightmaster (born 8 June 1992), known professionally as E. R. Fightmaster, is an American non-binary actor, producer, and writer. Fightmaster is known for their work on ''Grey's Anatomy'' as Dr. Kai and through their solo music pr ...

, actor, producer, and writer * Tiffany Hines, actress * Andy Paris, actor and playwright *

Curtis Sittenfeld Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld (born August 23, 1975) is an American writer. She is the author of 2 collections of short stories, ''You Think it, I’ll Say It'' (2018) and ''Show don't tell'' (2025), as well as seven novels: ''Prep'' (2005), the s ...

, writer * P.G. Sittenfeld, City Council of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

member, convicted in 2022 for federal charges of bribery and attempted extortion * Wes Gardner, former Major League Baseball player * Broti Gupta, writer and podcaster

References

External links

* {{authority control Private schools in Cincinnati High schools in Hamilton County, Ohio Middle schools in Hamilton County, Ohio Elementary schools in Hamilton County, Ohio Educational institutions established in 1974 1974 establishments in Ohio Private high schools in Ohio Private middle schools in Ohio Private elementary schools in Ohio