Verde Valley School

[EduCativ]

Verde Valley School is a co-educational boarding and day school for students in grades 9-12. Founded in 1947. Here at VVS, academic excellence is delivered through an International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. Our students and their parents opt to take this prestigious program, knowing that it offers them more significant benefits and options when applying for college. Add to that the accolade of "#15 best boarding school in the US" (Town and Country), and you understand why VVS makes for such an attractive choice of school.
But VVS is more than a boarding school. About 20% of its student population comprises local day students who flourish in the small class size so conducive to personal learning and development. These students are gifted with unparalleled experiences here at VVS that immerse them in cultural integration, community service, and experiential learning that all endow students with capabilities they never knew they had, nor would they have the opportunity to discover, without the magical VVS touch.
Here at VVS, set amidst the inimitable red rocks of Sedona, we call our type of education "IB + Dirt." This unique curriculum is delivered by a talented and energetic faculty 100% invested in delivering a holistic education that prepares their students for a life beyond college as positive change agents of the world. The proof of this lies in the impressive student testing scores, the highly regarded colleges, and universities to which they are accepted, and the VVS guiding principles define the work they go on to do that.
VVS began as a love story between a man from Harvard University and the daughter of an English plantation owner living in Guatemala. Hamilton and Barbara Warren took a visionary leap when founding the school in 1948. Post World War II brought a world that was disjointed, with millions of people displaced. In our neighborhood, Native Americans were being sequestered to reservations. The Warrens intentionally created an international school in Sedona's beauty and safety to provide a place where students from all parts of the world would find acceptance and an opportunity to experience a world-class education. They established the guiding principles that, to this day, anchor the lives of VVS students and faculty. We live by them each day.
While these principles remain unchanged, how we go about educating our students has appropriately changed over the past six decades to meet students' needs in an ever-shifting educational climate. The reason we exist today as our history and tradition guide a school as a global institution of principle, excellence, and heart. Our community is comprised of 120 students from 18 countries and 14 states. Students from Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Rwanda, and many other countries, learn world citizenship and cultural understanding through an intentional program. Peace is possible. Verde Valley demonstrates that each day.
While there was no formal language to describe what the Warrens meant by "environmental stewardship," VVS was one of the first schools to include it in its mission. We take that responsibility seriously with each student involved regularly in our sustainability program work jobs: caring for the land, planting and harvesting in our organic farm, and overseeing our recycling and composting systems (100% of our table scraps and ware are composted). Students leave VVS and return to their communities knowing how to create positive change for our climate and our planet.
Verde Valley School educates students for college and life by encouraging them to become intellectually curious, academically accomplished, and creatively expressive. The program fosters intercultural understanding and world citizenship, environmental stewardship, the value of physical labor, and service to humanity with a willing spirit.
Verde Valley School is committed to providing the best possible academic program, giving students the opportunities to excel academically while learning to become independent, thoughtful, and responsible community members. As part of our ongoing commitment to providing our students with the best possible academic program, VVS is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School and offers the IB curriculum to all our juniors and seniors. First-year students and sophomores are enrolled in our pre-IB curriculum, the underclassmen collaboration.
Our hands-on, project-based, student-centered approach to the IB ensures that students become directors of their learning process, guided and mentored by skilled teachers. Our IB Diploma pass rate is consistent. Our graduates have been accepted into universities and colleges large and small, liberal arts schools, art colleges, research universities, and more. They find the school that best fits their educational and life goals.

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