The Fundación Colegio Americano de Quito or "Colegio Americano de Quito" (American School of Quito) is a college preparatory school in Quito, Ecuador. It was founded by former president of Ecuador and President of the Organization of American States (OAS) Galo Plaza Lasso in 1940.
The American School of Quito opened its doors on October 14, 1940 to 162 students, offering an education based on the teaching of the principles of democracy. The school’s founders, Plaza and Boaz Long, the representative of the United States government in Ecuador at that time, initiated an educational relationship between those two countries by educating future leaders in the principles of equality, active participation, freedom of expression and mutual respect. The first directors were Robert E. and Mrs. Hazel J. Tucker, who had just arrived from the United States. The founders of our school lived in a time characterized by the fascist movements in Europe, represented in Ecuador and other South American nations by the German and Italian schools operating there. The two founders wanted to counter this. They had a vision of educating the youth of Ecuador in democratic values knowing these students would become the future leaders. The founders' vision can be evidenced in the long list of outstanding graduates that have been leaders in politics, finances, industry, law, medicine, education, journalism among other areas. Throughout its history, the students and staff of the American School have been recognized both nationally and internationally for their accomplishments in many different arenas, educational, sports and cultural.
Today, the American School has 2,116 students from Pre-Kindergarten to Twelfth Grade. Among these students are the children and grandchildren of our founding families. Currently the school is co-educational, non-religious and is a non-profit foundation. It is accredited by AdvancED and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education and Culture. Additionally, it is recognized by the International Baccalaureate Organization and offers both I.B. Programmes: Middle Years and Diploma. American School graduates can obtain three diplomas: a high school diploma accredited in the United States, the Ecuadorian Bachillerato and the I.B. Diploma.
The mission of the American School of Quito is: “To educate students in an environment of liberty so that they may become persons of integrity who are capable of critical reasoning, who have democratic values, who are bilingual, who are aware of their country’s problems, and who are able to face and change realities with a multicultural and universal perspective of the world.”
Alumni from the American School of Quito include: Francisco Carrion, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ecuador; Rodrigo Borja, former President of Ecuador; David Davidovic, Vice-President at Merck, Genentech and Roche, premier global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; Gian-Carlo Rota, eminent mathematician and MIT professor, Gina Davidovic, President of Bay3000 Corporate Education, a corporate education institution in Canada and Australia. Among the alumni we can find both national and international leaders in politics, finances, medicine, law, journalism, education, only to mention a few.
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Every year students from high school vote for the Student Council. The student Council is a group of representatives for high school that engage on different number of activities and organize events in the school. Candidates from the Student Council come from 10th (Secretary), 11th (Vice-President) and 12th grade (President and Treasurer). Candidates must first comply with the requirements and then must present themselves to the entire high school with their proposals through speeches, the next day a debate follows with questions from the public, the next day afterwards are the elections and finally the next day is the possession of the Student Council.
Model United Nations
The Schools hosts the largest Model United Nations in Spanish each year, which include local schools, thus contributing to the practice of democratic principles and the analysis of global and local issues in Ecuador.
Controversies: As with many large school, Americano faces many issues with drugs. The school attempts to stop students using drugs by constant revisions that normally result in expulsion of mnay students, which are found possesing marihuana and alcahol. The teachers seem aloof at this problem as a large quantity of students use drugs, specially marihuana and alcahol.
"Ecuador to Get New U.S. School", New York Times, 29 September 1940, section 2, p. 5. col. 8.