Verde Valley School (VVS) is an international college preparatory boarding and day school for students in grades 9-12. The school is located in

Sedona Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031. It is within the Coconino National Fo ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States.

History

Founded by Hamilton and Barbara Warren, Verde Valley School opened to its first cohort of students in 1948. Mr. Warren, who had served as liaison officer for the European policy section of the

Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

during World War II, was motivated to create a space where people of different cultures and backgrounds could come together to learn. Verde Valley School curriculum was designed with the intention to promote international and intercultural understanding, requiring its 120 students to take courses in anthropology and Spanish and annual field trips to Mexico and nearby Indian reservations. Scholars who helped found the school and guide its early years included Harvard anthropologist

Clyde Kluckhohn Clyde Kluckhohn (; January 11, 1905 in Le Mars, Iowa – July 28, 1960 near Santa Fe, New Mexico), was an American anthropologist and social theorist, best known for his long-term ethnographic work among the Navajo and his contributions to the ...

(who mentored Hamilton while at Harvard), anthropologist

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard C ...

, and John Collier, Commissioner of Indian Affairs during the Franklin Roosevelt administration. The establishment of the school coincided with a post-war growth in Sedona, including the growth of the arts in the region.

Notable alumni

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music. Horner's first film score was in ...

, Oscar-winning composer of the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

'' film score. * Chris Lemmon, class of 1972, actor. * Anne Lockhart, actress. * Benson K. Whitney, class of 1974,

United States Ambassador to Norway The United States Ambassador to Norway (formally the Ambassador of the United States to the Kingdom of Norway) is the official representative of the President and the Government of the United States of America to the King and Government of Norw ...

under Presidents Bush and Obama.

References

External links

Verde Valley School website
{{authority control Schools in Yavapai County, Arizona Boarding schools in Arizona Educational institutions established in 1948 Private high schools in Arizona International Baccalaureate schools in Arizona Preparatory schools in Arizona Sedona, Arizona 1948 establishments in Arizona