Verde Valley School
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| Verde Valley School File:Vvs logo.jpg | |
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| Type | Private, Boarding |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Non-denominational |
| Established | 1948 |
| Headmaster | Paul Domingue |
| Faculty | 18 |
| Enrollment | 140 total 83% boarding /17% day |
| Average class size | 9 students |
| Student to teacher ratio | 6:1 |
| Color(s) | Green and White |
| Athletics | 21 Interscholastic Sports |
| Website | www.vvsaz.org |
Verde Valley School (VVS) is an international college preparatory boarding school and day school serving students in grades 9-12. It is the only U.S. boarding school to offer the International Baccalaureate curriculum as its 11th and 12th grade curriculum. The school is located in Sedona, Arizona. There are approximately 140 students from over 18 states in the U.S. and more than 16 nations. The school owns 155 acres (647,000 m²) and has an enrollment of roughly one hundred students (boarders and day students). 50 acres have been leased to Camp Soaring Eagle, a camp based on the Hole in the Wall camps, created by Paul Newman.
With a population less than half the size of the average boarding school, 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: 1113 versus the national average of 1026. More than half 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 small handful of teachers and artists.
Hamilton Warren was raised in New England, and 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 and Korea, for other cultures to represent at the school and has discontinued efforts to attract Native Americans or Mexicans, which originally formed a percentage of the students. Currently, there are two Native students who originate from a reservation.
Students
Two-thirds of Verde Valley School's population board at a tuition of approximately $36,400/ $21,840 one semester per year. Day students pay approximately $19,000. Almost half of the student body is on financial aid, varying in degree from a few thousand dollars to full scholarships. It is the only U.S. boarding school that has the IB curriculum solely for juniors and seniors.
The boarders occupy six separate dorm complexes on campus; three are for girls and three are for boys. The three boy dorms are West, East, and North. The three girl dorms are Sears, Dogpatch and Motel.
Sports
Depending on the season, VVS offers basketball, golf, tennis, soccer, horseback riding, mountain biking, personal fitness, and volleyball, and all students are required to participate in some sort of sports activity. The VVS soccer team is often seen in the state finals.
Headmasters
- Ham Warren (1948-1963)
- Denny Salzmann (1963-1966)
- Neil Bull (1966-early 1970)
- Leonard Mason (Acting head from 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 (Acting head spring 1989)
- Jonathan Ulsh (1989-1992)
- Roy Grimm (1992-1996 (Acting Head in spring 1992))
- Saul Benjamin (1996-December 1998)
- Anne Salzmann (1999-2002 (Acting Head in January 1999))
- Paul Domingue (2002-)
References
External links
- Verde Valley School website
- Verde Valley School review by boardingschoolreview.com.