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Founded in 2001, Sonoma Academy (SA) attracts students and families from five surrounding counties who are seeking a rigorous college-preparatory education with a 21st-century perspective. Along with high-level subject material, students learn critical skills like collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving and use of digital technology and media.
Having students be creative, cross-culturally aware, engaged in their communities and able to become leaders in a changing world are goals of the school’s mission that are manifest today throughout SA’s program and culture.
Becoming well-rounded and capable leaders requires having global knowledge and the ability to apply it. At Sonoma Academy, curricular content — whether in humanities, art, or science — is drawn from cultures around the world. Half of the students each year participate in the school’s international travel and service program, which won a Leading Edge Award from the National Association of Independent Schools.
SA students have completed study or service in Thailand, China, Costa Rica, France, Japan, Nicaragua, Russia, Honduras and Mexico. Students may pursue a concentration, which is similar to a college minor, in Global Citizenship. As a result of their education and experiences, students have initiated service projects that include building schools in Kabul and funding an AIDS nurse in Kenya.
One of the most striking teaching advantages the school has to offer is its unique context. At the base of Taylor Mountain in Santa Rosa, the campus is surrounded on two sides by protected open space and overlooks residential and commercial properties. In this microcosm, students see firsthand the competition for land and resources, population growth/control, mediation of opposing interests, and the challenges of developing common ground.
As sophomores, all students participate in SA’s Environmental Leadership Program. Developed in conjunction with the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy, the program is based on their four pillars of “Environment, Equity, Economics and Ethics.” Students may also pursue an Environmental Leadership concentration. On campus, the school is developing the Electra de Peyster Organic Teaching Garden, with an outdoor classroom, community garden, and full recycling and composting programs.
Sonoma Academy’s founders wanted to be sure that the school would be “of the community, for the community.” A scholarship fund, established at the school’s outset, has enabled talented students to benefit from SA’s college preparatory education regardless of their family means. As a result, 50 percent of families benefit from “flex tuition.”
Being “of the community” means giving back. SA students are having a positive impact in the historically underserved neighborhood bordering the campus. They tutor and teach music in local elementary schools and participate in a middle-school mentoring program.
Another essential element of a 21st-century education evident at SA is the use of instructional technology. Using laptops loaded with specialized software, students are no longer receptors of information, but contributors and creators as well. Technological tools give students the ability to relate to materials, from virtually anywhere, then gives them the power to create and collaborate.
Sonoma Academy’s goals include, but go beyond, preparing students for success in college. The school aims to fulfill what the leaders believe to be the imperative of this time: preparing graduates who can offer the unique leadership that the next century will require.