Verde Valley School

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Verde Valley School

Location
Sedona, AZ, USA
Information
Religion Non-denominational
Headmaster Paul Domingue
Enrollment

108 total
83% boarding /17% day
Faculty 18
Average class size 9 students
Student:teacher ratio 6:1
Type Private, Boarding
Athletics 21 Interscholastic Sports
Color(s) Green and White
Established 1948
Homepage www.vvsaz.org

Verde Valley School 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 108 students from over 18 states in the U.S. and more than 16 nations. 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


Contents

[edit] 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. This legacy is honored at VVS by the The Clyde Maben Kluckhohn Prize for Distinguished Teaching, which is awarded every two years.

Barbara Warren grew up in Guatemala, the child of British coffee plantation 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. 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.

[edit] 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-)

[edit] References


[edit] External links