[12] The school, which was built on the site of the former Roosevelt Stadium, cost $180 million, covers 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) and includes a rooftop football field.

The AEA provides classes for students of grades 9 - 12 who show interest in the fields of science and engineering,[14][15] and served as an alternative to José Martí Freshman Academy, which most ninth graders attended at the time.

[17] In addition to Liberal Arts courses, students can take advanced placement biology, chemistry, physics, anatomy & physiology, forensic science, robotics, geometry, algebra 2, and calculus at the AEA.

[7][13] Cliffside Park-based RSC Architects, in partnership with architecture firm HOK New York, designed the 360,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) school, which includes 66 classrooms.

[28] A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on September 25, and attended by Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and Senator Bob Menendez.

[12][29] A subsequent opening gala was held September 26, and featured appearances from celebrities such as Harry Carson of the New York Giants and actor and Union Hill High School graduate Bobby Cannavale, and a performance by musician Tito Puente Jr.[30] A performance by Cuban singer Cucu Diamantes was cancelled by the city's Board of Education, causing controversy.

It features a small amphitheater, a rain garden, a functioning waterfall, a fountain, brick-paved walkways, patios, and more than 100 different species of all-season shrubs and grasses, which provide research opportunities for the school's environmental sciences classes and its horticultural and environment clubs.

[37][38]Former athlete Otis Davis, who won two gold medals in track and field events at the 1960 Summer Olympics, works at Union City High School as coach, mentor, and verification officer.

Nazzal was among 300 teachers who appeared on the September 23, 2012, episode of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams to discuss issues pertaining to education.

[46] University of California, Berkeley Professor David L. Kirp, in his 2011 book, Kids First, and his 2013 book, Improbable Scholars, praised Union City's education system for bringing poor, mostly immigrant children (three quarters of whom live in homes where only Spanish is spoken and a quarter of whom are thought to be undocumented and fearful of deportation) into the educational mainstream.

Kirp also observes that in 2011, Union City boasted a high school graduation rate of 89.5 percent — roughly 10 percentage points higher than the national average, and that in 2012, 75 percent of Union City graduates enrolled in college, with top students winning scholarships to the Ivy League.

The architecture of the athletic complex, which cost $15 million, was designed to resemble the former Roosevelt Stadium, which previously occupied the site.

[55] Due to the athletic field's unique location, it deals with unusual logistical challenges, such as balls that land on the streets surrounding the school; space limitations that place the band close to the visitors' sideline, thus making it sometimes difficult to hear; and games that are interrupted by school fire drills.

The Center opened on October 16, 2009 with a celebration that featured an art gallery of over 160 paintings, as well as performances by a number of musicians, poets and dancers.

Included in the performances were a guitar solo by Francisco "Pancho" Navarro, who appeared in 2002 Salma Hayek film Frida, a dance performance by Tap Ole Dance Company that was choreographed by Megan Fernandez, who had appeared on the reality television program America's Got Talent, and a poetry reading by Graciela Barreto, who had been named poet laureate of Union City in September.

[61][62] Drama classes are aided with a separate black box theater for small productions, which doubles as a community conference center.

[7] The federally funded, social services nonprofit group, North Hudson Community Action Corporation's (NHCAC) pediatric health center, which is housed in the building, opened in early July 2010, in order to allow the corporation's facilities on 31st Street to expand its women's health and internal medicine capacity.

It is the third of NHCAC's ten such facilities in North Hudson, New Jersey to implement electronic health record-keeping, which allows patients to schedule appointments online, see doctors more quickly and facilitate quicker lab results and filling of prescriptions at pharmacies.

[65] The staff's parking garage, built a block south of the school, also serves nearby residents and business.

[25] The Union City High School Soaring Eagles[6] compete in the Hudson County Interscholastic League, which is comprised of public and private high schools in Hudson County and was established following a reorganization of sports leagues in North Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).

Due to a less successful than anticipated record (5–5 in 2008 and 3–7 in 2009), he was replaced by former James J. Ferris High School coach Wilbur Valdez in early 2010.

[77] The team won their first North II Group V state sectional title in 2023 with a 24–17 against Phillipsburg High School in the championship game played at Maloney Stadium.

[78] The boys basketball team won the North I Group IV sectional final against Hackensack High School in a 58–54 victory in 2019, coming back from an 18-point deficit to win the program's first title.