Environmental Stewardship

One of  VVS's guiding mission principles is to teach our students respect for the environment, and to become proactive in preserving it.

In its residential program, VVS has a recycling program as well as a focus on using less. Students have formed a Green Team to help educate the community on how to conserve, recycle and reuse.

Academically, VVS provides students with a solid foundation in the traditional sciences with an emphasis on the environment and the anthropogenic factors that affect our environment. Our academic courses focus on critical thinking, problem solving, and scientific inquiry. In addition, we integrate long-term research projects into the standard curriculum to help students appreciate the process of science and scientific methodology.

The Oak Creek River Project (OCRP) is a special project at VVS. It is an ongoing study of the Oak Creek River at Red Rock Crossing, a riparian environment on the doorstep of the VVS campus. The site provides opportunities for field work across the sciences and uses the latest sampling equipment. A recent addition to our campus is a new research pond - built by students - which is used to model conditions in the Oak Creek Watershed.

Science projects to be undertaken range from a study of the micro life at the creek and in surrounding vernal pools, watershed mapping, and hydrogeology of the area in integrated science, bacterial culture and analysis in biology, and water quality sampling,
and the development of a water quality index in chemistry.

Assessing the overall health of the site, comparing it with other local sites, collaboration with other organizations that sample Oak Creek, and the publishing of the results on the science department website are future goals of the OCRP.

Service to Others

While service to both the school community and the world is woven throughout every aspect of the academic and residential program, VVS also has a thriving community service program. Students and faculty participate on a weekly basis in many local community service projects like the local soup kitchen, the Sedona Chamber Music program, and Humane Society, and the local Food Bank. There is a community service component to each of the field trips, and many of the Project Period activities center on service as well.

Pictured above, students worked on a Navajo ranch on the Southwest Field Trip. They built a fence, installed a wood stove in a hogan, planted an orchard, and chopped firewood for the ranch's owner. The owner's family had lived in the canyon for generations.

 

The Value of Physical Labor

Valuing physical labor has been an integral part of VVS from its inception. The school's founders understood that involving students in building and maintaining their school not only empowers them, but also gives them a greater appreciation for the campus they helped to build and care for.

Many of the school's buildings have been built with the help of students throughout the years.  Most of the daily chores are completed by students as well, under the supervision of faculty members. Project Period and field trips also have a labor component.  And many alumni return to the school to work alongside students and faculty to improve buildings, make walkways, and more.