Verde Valley School
Encyclopedia
Verde Valley School is an international college preparatory
boarding and day school for students in grades 9-12. It is one of only a few U.S. boarding schools to offer the International Baccalaureate curriculum as its sole curriculum for 11th and 12th grades. The school is located in Sedona, Arizona
. There are approximately 118 students from over 18 states in the U.S. and more than 16 nations. The school owns 155 acres (647,000 m²).
VVS maintains an average class size of nine and an overall teacher-student ratio of one teacher per every eight students, rather than the national school average of twenty students in a class and a teacher-student ratio of one per every six students. SAT
scores are also higher than average. More than three-quarters of the faculty have advanced degrees.
All classes, programs, and activities are based upon five mission principles:
Hamilton Warren was raised in New England, a graduate of Harvard College
. His mentor at Harvard was Clyde Kluckhohn
--- the first president of the modern American Anthropological Association, for twenty-five years the chair of the Department of Anthropology at Harvard, and one of the earliest group of Rhodes Scholars. Clyde Kluckhohn was the one who inspired Hamilton Warren through his reputation as a truly international educator and inspirational teacher. Kluckhohn learned Navajo
by the age of fifteen and had set a standard for the importance and value of engaging cultures different from one's own.
Barbara Warren grew up in Guatemala
, the child of British coffee finca owners.
Other individuals that helped shape the founding generation of the School included Margaret Mead
, one of the century's most articulate exponents of both anthropological studies and progressive education, and John Collier
, Commissioner of Indian Affairs during Franklin Roosevelt's administration, and Max Ernst who lived in Sedona for two years in the 1940s when the school was being built. With the assistance of scholars and public figures like these, Ham and Babs determined to establish a school for talented young people. Mindful of the global horrors of World War II and the ravages of ethnocentrism and racism in this country, the Warrens believed that America — indeed the world — needed a school where the values of cultural diversity would be understood and celebrated, not simply studied and tolerated.
In the years since, Verde Valley School has looked internationally, to Germany, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, China and Korea, for other cultures to represent at the school and has continues its efforts to attract Native Americans and Mexicans, which originally formed a percentage of the students.
The boarders occupy six separate dorm complexes on campus; four are for girls and three are for boys. The three boys' dorms are Perkins, Avery, and Christensen. The four girl dorms are Sears North, Sears South, Dogpatch and Motel. Inter-dorm visitation between boys and girls dorms are restricted to supervised times.
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
boarding and day school for students in grades 9-12. It is one of only a few U.S. boarding schools to offer the International Baccalaureate curriculum as its sole curriculum for 11th and 12th grades. The school is located in Sedona, Arizona
Sedona, Arizona
Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona...
. There are approximately 118 students from over 18 states in the U.S. and more than 16 nations. The school owns 155 acres (647,000 m²).
VVS maintains an average class size of nine and an overall teacher-student ratio of one teacher per every eight students, rather than the national school average of twenty students in a class and a teacher-student ratio of one per every six students. SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
scores are also higher than average. More than three-quarters of the faculty have advanced degrees.
All classes, programs, and activities are based upon five mission principles:
- Academic Excellence
- The Value of World Citizenship
- Service to Others
- Environmental Stewardship
- The Value of Physical Labor
History
Founded in 1946 by Hamilton "Ham" and Barbara "Babs" Warren, Verde Valley School opened in 1948 with sixteen students and a handful of teachers and artists.Hamilton Warren was raised in New England, a graduate of Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
. His mentor at Harvard was Clyde Kluckhohn
Clyde Kluckhohn
Clyde Kluckhohn , was an American anthropologist and social theorist, best known for his long-term ethnographic work among the Navajo and his contributions to the development of theory of culture within American anthropology.-Early life and education:...
--- the first president of the modern American Anthropological Association, for twenty-five years the chair of the Department of Anthropology at Harvard, and one of the earliest group of Rhodes Scholars. Clyde Kluckhohn was the one who inspired Hamilton Warren through his reputation as a truly international educator and inspirational teacher. Kluckhohn learned Navajo
Navajo language
Navajo or Navaho is an Athabaskan language spoken in the southwestern United States. It is geographically and linguistically one of the Southern Athabaskan languages .Navajo has more speakers than any other Native American language north of the...
by the age of fifteen and had set a standard for the importance and value of engaging cultures different from one's own.
Barbara Warren grew up in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, the child of British coffee finca owners.
Other individuals that helped shape the founding generation of the School included Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
, one of the century's most articulate exponents of both anthropological studies and progressive education, and John Collier
John Collier (reformer)
John Collier was an American social reformer and Native American advocate. He served as Commissioner for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the President Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, from 1933-1945...
, Commissioner of Indian Affairs during Franklin Roosevelt's administration, and Max Ernst who lived in Sedona for two years in the 1940s when the school was being built. With the assistance of scholars and public figures like these, Ham and Babs determined to establish a school for talented young people. Mindful of the global horrors of World War II and the ravages of ethnocentrism and racism in this country, the Warrens believed that America — indeed the world — needed a school where the values of cultural diversity would be understood and celebrated, not simply studied and tolerated.
In the years since, Verde Valley School has looked internationally, to Germany, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, China and Korea, for other cultures to represent at the school and has continues its efforts to attract Native Americans and Mexicans, which originally formed a percentage of the students.
Students
Two-thirds of Verde Valley School's population board at a tuition of approximately $43,000 per year. Day students pay approximately $19,000. It is one of the few U.S. boarding school that offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma as its sole curriculum for juniors and seniors.The boarders occupy six separate dorm complexes on campus; four are for girls and three are for boys. The three boys' dorms are Perkins, Avery, and Christensen. The four girl dorms are Sears North, Sears South, Dogpatch and Motel. Inter-dorm visitation between boys and girls dorms are restricted to supervised times.
Value of Physical Labor
Work is an integral part of VVS and is embodied in the school's work jobs program which incorporates three of the school's mission principles: the value of physical labor, service to others, and environmental stewardship. In the early years of the school, students and faculty worked together to literally build the school’s facilities. Today, VVS offers students a number of ways to learn the value of physical labor. Daily morning dorm chores, a weekly work job program, and several community work days are scattered throughout the academic year. Work jobs include the VVS garden, barns, and recycling program.Field Trips
Each year, every student participates in a VVS field trip. These trips have been a part of the Verde Valley School curriculum since the school was founded in 1948. Many options are available each year, but in each case the objective is either to engage directly in the lives of people whose values and life experiences are different from those generally considered "mainstream", or to give practical expression to the ideal of environmental stewardship and service to humanity.Sports
Depending on the season, VVS offers basketball, golf, tennis, soccer, horseback riding, mountain biking, personal fitness, fencing, rock climbing and hiking, and all students are required to participate in some sort of outdoor activity. The VVS soccer team is often seen in the state finals.Headmasters
- Ham Warren (1948–1963)
- Denny Salzmann (1963–1966)
- Neil Bull (1966–1970)
- Leonard Mason (February–June 1970)
- John Huie (1970–1974)
- Gerry Cunningham (1974–1978)
- Ed Rubovits (1978–1983)
- Ray Bizjack (1983–1988)
- Joseph Staggers (1988–1989)
- David Tuites (1989)
- Jonathan Ulsh (1989–1992)
- Roy Grimm (1992–1996)
- Saul Benjamin (1996–1998)
- Anne Salzmann (1999–2002)
- Paul Domingue (2002–2010)
- John Griffiths (2010–2011)
- Graham Frey (2011- )
External links
- Verde Valley School website
- Verde Valley School review by boardingschoolreview.com.