Williams is home to the Academy of Finance, a Career and Technical Education program that is administered in collaboration with the National Academy Foundation, a national network of high school reform focused on smaller learning communities that focus in areas such as health sciences, tourism, entertainment, or finance along with other options.

Established in 2005, the Academy provides a rigorous curriculum, enhanced by opportunities to build professional relationships with area finance and business leaders, as well as demonstrate relevance through community based internship and service-learning experiences.

[4] As of the spring of 2014, nationalities represented in the student body in recent years included the United States, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, El Salvador, Greece, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Kosovo, Mexico, New Zealand (Māori), Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, and Vietnam.

Considered a "giant in the textile world", he was a member of the Board of Trustees of what is now Wake Forest University and a local citizen recognized for his role in making the high school possible from a financial standpoint.

In addition, a three-manual Reuter organ was given and installed as a memorial to Williams in Binkley Chapel on the Olde Campus of Wake Forest.

The statue which sits prominently on a pedestal in Bulldog Plaza on the east side of campus, is a focal point of school-wide celebrations, and is an object of scorn and derision of students from rival high schools.

The "Spikes Spaz" are the student supporters of Williams High's basketball teams, named for the gym's namesake, and patterned after the "Cameron Crazies" of Duke University.

The gym was the scene of the highest points scored by any one player in the 1960s when Pistol Pete Maravich played against the Bulldogs while a student at Raleigh's Needham B. Broughton High School.

Poet and novelist Flannery O'Connor has also appeared at Williams, along with author Timothy Tyson, who wrote Blood Done Sign My Name, 2005 summer reading selection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the inspiration of a movie by the same title released in the 1980s.

In the fall of 1960, ninth grade students began attending what was then the newly opened Turrentine Junior High School.

Prior to the appointment of Jerome Evans as head coach, a sit-in was held on the front lawn to communicate concerns about a lack of diversity on the cheerleading squad.

One of the most historically architecturally unique high school buildings still in use in North Carolina, it is three stories tall, centered around an interior courtyard area now used for parking.

[10] includes a pipe organ donated by the Williamses, a rarity among even older high schools, which is generally used only during commencement exercises.

Additionally, during the 1970s the service clubs saw a fraternity/sorority like "rush" process of new member recruitment which including formal teas, visitations, and "pledging."

The charter date of the now defunct Quill and Scroll chapter at Williams was listed as 1938, thereby being another organization carried over from the former Burlington High School.

The school's award-winning DECA chapter (formerly known as Distributive Education Clubs of America), is advised by Williams faculty member and alumnus Rhonda Farmer.

The school's athletic program consists of the following sports: tennis, cross-country, football, basketball, soccer, swimming, golf, track & field, wrestling, baseball, softball, and lacrosse, introduced in the spring of 2010.

A native of Guilford County, Phillips graduated from the former Burlington High School, and earned an athletic scholarship to Wake Forest College to play baseball and football.

He served on the board of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, representing the Southeastern section of the country and received that organization's Distinguished Service Award in 1982.

A graduate of North Carolina Central University, Evans was appointed as head coach in the fall of 1970 during the period of integration.

He was briefly alluded to in the film Remember the Titans (which tells the story of a football team at another Williams High School, located in Virginia).

The 1982 team also went undefeated until the first round of the 3-A playoffs, losing to Jamestown Ragsdale 7-6 in a torrential rainstorm that covered the state of North Carolina.

Coach Story led the Bulldogs to the 3-A state championship in 1985, defeating Forest Hills High School 7-3 at Memorial Stadium in Burlington.

Visual art, pottery, band, orchestra, chorus, Musical theater, and modern dance are among the opportunities available to students.

[12] The Lester R. Ridenhour Memorial Scholarship is presented to residents of Alamance County who attend East Carolina University.

At Appalachian, he had lettered "in football, basketball and baseball, (later) he was called into service with the U.S. Air Force, serving during World War II as a B-17 navigator.

He enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned his master's degree and lettered in varsity baseball.

Born and raise in Moncure in adjacent Chatham County, he earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from what is now Elon University.

After serving as principal, the seventh principal of Williams, Harold Brewer (1986–1992) later served as Superintendent of Montgomery County Schools (from 1996–2001), and later Senior Associate for Organizational Development for Durham Public Schools (from 2001–2002)and then as Sr. VP for Programs for the Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

He has served as Senior Vice-President for Programs for the Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning based in Raleigh, North Carolina.