The school, named after the nearby Kiskiminetas River, is located about 30 miles (48 km) east by north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Wilson led the school through its first four decades with the assistance of his wife, daughters, sons-in-law, and close friends.

The effects of this ban led Fred Lewis Pattee, a Penn State professor, to compare the university's team to Kiski's.

James L. Marks Sr., who served as dean, and Colonel John J. Daub, who worked as the school's registrar, were also influential early faculty and administrators.

[4] L. Montgomery Clark was elected president of Kiski's board of trustees in 1941 and was appointed Head of School in 1942.

[17] John A. Pidgeon, who was then Deerfield Academy's assistant head of school, succeeded Clark upon retirement in 1957.

Kiski undertook additions and improvements to the facilities and grew its academic reputation and endowment under Pidgeon's 45-year leadership.

Kiski also constructed a new classroom building, dining hall, library, fine arts center, and administrative complex.

Since 2005, five of the six dormitories have undergone significant renovations to improve their sustainability measures and amenities while maintaining student capacity.

In 2009, the school constructed a student center to serve as the social hub of campus, house the college counseling office, and host events throughout the year.

The school also expanded academic facilities in 2015 by adding a Makerspace, a do-it-yourself (DIY) workshop and fabrication studio, and completing the Zeigler Science Center in 2019.

[18] Co-education at Kiski had been considered seriously at several points between 1990 and 2020, but its implementation in fall 2024 resulted from the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and a rapidly changing landscape for small boarding schools in the United States.

Other notable board members include:[19] Kiski is a selective school that chooses a student body from an applicant pool.

[20] Post-Graduates Kiski accepts postgraduate students who have already achieved their high school diploma and pursue additional secondary education before college.

[21] Kiski's Leadership and Character Development Program provides experiences that range from Maker workshops to explorations of sustainability and community service work.

The head of school individually meets with students to report their academic progress after each grading period.

The school confers the academic title of valedictorian upon the member of the graduating class with the highest cumulative weighted grade point average based on coursework completed at Kiski during the junior and senior years.

[22] Every candidate for graduation must complete twenty credits, including:[22] Each evening from 20:15–21:45, Monday through Thursday, the school requires all students to engage in academic pursuits.

The evening study time allows students to visit their teachers' homes for extra help and general coursework assistance.

Among other responsibilities, prefects counsel younger students and help dorm heads with evening study hall and lights-out.

The RAC includes the Jacob Multi-Purpose Gymnasium, a soccer, lacrosse, tennis, and baseball training area, and an indoor walking track.

The building provides a transitional space for teachers to move from lecture to experiment with movable classroom furniture.

The Makerspace plays host to the school's Inventionland curriculum, where students build, market, and pitch ideas for inventions, emphasizing graphic design, engineering, public speaking, and patent researching.

It features an ample green space where Kiski students play Disc golf or view outdoor movies.

The SSC contains the school's college counseling office, campus bookstore, snack bar, radio station, TV gaming rooms, and a large fire pit on the back patio.

The library, constructed and opened in 1993, provides many print and non-print resources for students and faculty members.