Founders' Vision

Founded in 1946 by Hamilton and Barbara Warren, the first class took shape in 1948 with sixteen students and a small handful of teachers and artists dedicated from its beginning to changing the world.

Raised in New England and a graduate of Harvard College, Ham drew on the counsel of a diverse number of scholars and public leaders to enact the dream upon which he and Babs set the course of their lives.
 
As the child of British coffee plantation owners in Guatemala, with a lifetime commitment to foreign languages and diverse cultures, Babs contributed her unique perspective to the growing campus. She established VVS’s distinctive tradition of community life. Each year, The Warren Family Citizenship Award, is given to a member of the graduating class commemorating the enduring vision of Ham and Babs Warren.

Other significantly talented individuals contributed to the school’s founding mission and vitality. Chief among these was Ham’s mentor at Harvard, Clyde Kluckhohn. His reputation as a truly international educator and inspirational teacher added to Ham’s visionary work. Clyde set a standard for the importance and value of engaging cultures different from one’s own that became a VVS tradition. Further early voices that helped shape the founding generation of the school included Margaret Mead, one of the century’s most articulate exponents of both anthropological studies and progressive education, and John Collier, Commissioner of Indian Affairs during Franklin Roosevelt’s administration.

Ham and Babs chose Sedona based on its proximity to the Native American lands of Northern Arizona, and the indigenous tribes of Mexico to the south. In the early days, students were challenged to become anthropologists during three-week field trips to these locations through what we now call Field Expeditions [insert link embedded in previous two word phrase]

Experiential and intercultural education has defined Verde Valley School

since its inception. Over seventy-five years later we continue to draw upon our progressive past to inform our future. While no truly vital community ever stays as it was originally created, our integrity remains rooted in the strength of our Founder’s Vision.