Palo Alto Unified School District’s new Middle College High School will allow for 120 Palo Alto High School students to attend the program as of fall 2024.

Located on the Foothill College campus, there will now be spots for 60 sophomores and 60 juniors, according to Emily Garrison, the Middle College Principal. This is significantly more than the previous 35-student limit between all grade levels in the similar program they had in previous years.

Paly sophomore Lucas Irulegui applied for the previous program last school year and said he is interested this year.

“There’s more classes, there’s more things to do,” Irulegui said. “I didn’t get in because there’s a lot of people trying to do it.”

He said that he is happy to have a better chance of getting in next year, thanks to the increased student capacity.

PAUSD’s new program will provide opportunities for more students like Irulegui who are interested in joining.

This new school is designed to provide an alternative learning system based on community building, individualized learning and flexible scheduling and become the third high school of PAUSD along with Paly and Henry M. Gunn High School.