The Fundación Colegio Americano de Quito or Colegio Americano de Quito (American School of Quito) is a private college preparatory school in Quito, Ecuador. In 1940 it was founded by the former president of

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

and the president of the Organization of American States (OAS) Galo Plaza Lasso,Ecuador to Get New U.S. School; Plan Is Adopted in Attempt To Offset Rising Influence Of Totalitarian Ideas
" ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 29 September 1940, section 2, p. 5. col. 8. "The first American school in Ecuador will be opened here next month through the initiative of the former Minister of War, Galo Plaza Lasso, and cooperation of the Ministry of Education" and Boaz Long.

History

The American School of Quito was founded on October 14, 1940 to 162 students.History
(). Colegio Americano de Quito. Retrieved on April 4, 2015. The first directors were Robert E. and Mrs. Hazel J. Tucker, who had just arrived from the United States. The founders of the school lived in a time characterized by the fascist movements in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, 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 Colegio Americano Quito
DavidGleason.com, retrieved 3 April 2015 knowing these students would become the future leaders. Boaz Long, the U.S. minister to Ecuador, helped get supplies from the U.S. to establish the school. The school hired English-speaking, U.S.-educated Ecuadorian teachers to teach civics, geography, history of Ecuador, and Spanish classes, while Americans taught the other classes. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Education cooperated with the foundation of the school. The U.S. and Ecuadorian governments did not have plans to financially aid the school. The school used an educational program derived from the

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...

public schools and the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Lincoln School. In 2022 the American School had over 2,200 students from Nursery to twelfth grade. Among these students are the children and grandchildren of founding families. The school is co-educational, non-religious, and is a non-profit foundation. It is accredited by Cognia and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education and Culture. 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.

Student Council

Every year students from high school vote for the Student Council. The student Council is a group of representatives for high school that run activities and organize events. Candidates from the Student Council come from 11th or 12th (Secretary, Treasurer and Vice-President), and 12th grade only (President).

Model United Nations

The School 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.

Hymn

Gloria a tí, Colegio Americano

Notable alumni and staff

* Barbara Morgan taught here from 1978 to 1979. She taught English and science for one year. She was later an astronaut on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

. *Marcelo Aguirre, artist * Rodrigo Borja, former President of Ecuador; * Francisco Carrion, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ecuador; *

Diego Fernando Cordova Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. E ...

, former Ecuadorian ambassador * David Davidovic, Vice-President at Merck, Genentech and Roche * Gina Davidovic, President of Bay3000 Corporate Education * Freddy Ehlers, journalist, Minister * Luis Fierro, economist, writer, former Vice-Minister of Economy of Ecuado

*Santiago Gangotena González, earned a PhD degree in Physics from University of North Carolina, Chapell Hill and founded the first liberal arts university in Ecuador,

Universidad San Francisco de Quito Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ (informally Universidad San Francisco, or simply USFQ) is a liberal-arts, private university located in Quito, Ecuador. It was the first totally private self-financed university in Ecuador and the first l ...

Edna Iturralde Edna Iturralde (born 1948) is an Ecuadorian author who has won multiple national and international awards. She is considered the most important figure in children and young adult's literature of her country and, with fifty-seven books published, ...

, author * Joseph J. Kohn, Princeton Maths Professor *

Carlos Larreategui Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewher ...

, former Minister, Chancellor of UDLA (Universidad de Las Americas) *

César Montúfar Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...

, presidential candidate, former Member of the National Assembly, Ph.D. in Political Science *

Verónica Montúfar Veronica, Veronika, etc., may refer to: People * Veronica (name) * Saint Veronica * Saint Veronica of Syria Arts and media Comics and literature * ''Veronica'', an 1870 novel by Frances Eleanor Trollope * ''Veronica'', a 2005 novel by Mary Gaits ...

, secretaria ejecutiva Amnistía internacional Ecuador (1991-1996), Responsable de Igualdad de género y de trabajadores con discapacidad (ISP Ecuador). *

Gian-Carlo Rota Gian-Carlo Rota (April 27, 1932 – April 18, 1999) was an Italian-American mathematician and philosopher. He spent most of his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked in combinatorics, functional analysis, proba ...

, mathematician and MIT professor, *

Guadalupe Mantilla Guadalupe or Guadeloupe may refer to: Places Bolivia * Guadalupe, Potosí Brazil * Guadalupe, Piauí, a municipality in the state of Piauí * Guadalupe, Rio de Janeiro, a neighbourhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro Colombia * Guadalupe, ...

, Director of the newspaper "El Comercio" * Alvaro Mantilla, Director of the newspaper "Hoy" * Martin Pallares, journalist and writer *

Rodrigo Paz Rodrigo Paz Delgado (20 December 1933 – 17 August 2021) was an Ecuadorian politician and businessman. He was the mayor of Quito from 1988 to 1992. He ran as a presidential candidate in 1995–6. One of his political parties was Democracia ...

, former mayor of Quito * Frank Wilbauer, Director of the Red Cross, Ecuador *

Seye Adelekan Seye Adelekan (born 15 May 1988), sometimes known mononymously as Seye ( ), is a Nigerian British bassist, musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the live bassist for Gorillaz since 2017. Early life Seye Adelekan was born in Nigeria to ...

, Musician * Maria Fernanda Rea, Vice-President and Corporate Controller of Geodis Logistics Co. * Xavier Ponce, Chairman of the Ecuadorian American Chamber of Commerce

External links

School website

sacs casi webpage

Bibliography

{{Authority control Secondary schools in Quito American international schools in Ecuador International Baccalaureate schools in Ecuador International schools in Quito Private schools in Ecuador Educational institutions established in 1940 Ecuador–United States relations Association of American Schools in South America 1940 establishments in Ecuador