Veritas Preparatory Academy is a charter school in Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

 in the United States. Founded in 2006, Veritas Preparatory Academy (also known as Veritas Prep or VPA) offers a Great Books curriculum centered around Western culture, history, language, and literature. Its motto is Verum, Pulchrum, Bonum, meaning Truth, Beauty, Goodness, the individual ideals that the school upholds.

School philosophy

As a charter school

Charter school

Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...

 Veritas Prep offers a Great Books education centering around fundamental texts in the Western pantheon. Veritas Prep's philosophy includes small class size (no classroom has more than 22 students) and education using the Socratic method

Socratic method

The Socratic method , named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas...

.

Admission

As a public school in the state of Arizona, Veritas Preparatory Academy has no entrance requirements. Interested families must apply for the school's annual admissions lottery

Lottery

A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...

, which takes place in the spring of each school year. However, if a family has one child enrolled, any other children automatically receive a spot. Software designed by alumnus Joseph Irvine is used to perform these lotteries randomly. Because the academy is a charter school

Charter school

Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...

, it has the right to cap its enrollment. An addition in the 2010-2011 school year is one class of sixth grade.

Coursework

Veritas Preparatory Academy offers few choices in its academic curriculum. 9-12th grade students may choose to study Latin/Greek, French, or Spanish. The rest of the curriculum is fixed. Students at Veritas Prep exceed all requirements for students graduating from the state of Arizona.

Veritas Preparatory Academy has recently added a 6th grade to their school.

• 7th grade:
  • English Literature and Composition (readings include Shane, A Wind in the Willows, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Tales of the Greek Heroes, The Miracle Worker, stories by Edgar Allan Poe, and A Christmas Carol)
  • Pre-Algebra
  • Life Science (plants & fungi, single-cell & multi-cell animals)
  • Ancient History (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome)
  • Music (including an introduction to theory, note-reading, and soprano recorder performance)
  • Latin I
  • Studio Art I (basic composition and drawing techniques)

• 8th grade:
  • English Literature and Composition (Readings include Beowulf, The Chosen, The Lord of the Flies, The Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird, selections from Canterbury Tales, Legends of King Arthur, and selections from American poetry)
  • Algebra I
  • Earth Science (geology, geography, meteorology, astronomy)
  • Medieval History (England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Islamic Civilization, the Byzantine Empire, the Crusades, the Christian Church; The Song of Roland is read)
• Music (including more music theory and recorder ensemble performance involving soprano, alto, and tenor instruments)
  • Latin II
  • Studio Art II (including color theory and painting)

• 9th grade:
  • Humane Letters: The American Tradition (Readings include the US Constitution and The Federalist Papers, Democracy in America, Thoreau, Frederick Douglass's autobiography, Huckleberry Finn, My Antonia, The Old Man and the Sea, and The Great Gatsby)
  • Geometry
  • Biology
  • Music (including composition and choral performance)
  • Poetry Composition
  • Modern Language I or Latin III

• 10th grade:
  • Humane Letters: The Rise of Modern Europe (Readings include Locke's Second Treatise, Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Shakespeare's Henry V, Marx's The Communist Manifesto, Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch)
  • Algebra II
  • Physics I : Mechanics
  • Music
  • Poetry Composition
  • Modern Language II or Latin IV

• 11th grade:
  • Humane Letters: Ancient Greece (Readings include the Iliad and Odyssey, Sophocles, Thucydides, Plato's Republic and selected dialogues, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and selections from the Hebrew Bible)
  • Pre-Calculus/Calculus A
  • Physics II: Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics, Wave Motion
  • Drama
  • Art
  • Modern Language II or Ancient Greek I

• 12th grade:
  • Humane Letters: Western Thought from the Middle Ages to Modernity (Readings include the Aeneid, Augustine's Confessions, selections from the New Testament, Macbeth and King Lear, Dante's Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, Machiavelli, Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy, and Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov)
  • Calculus B,C
  • Chemistry
  • Drama
  • Art
  • Modern Language IV or Ancient Greek II
  • Senior Thesis

Non-athletic extracurriculars

Veritas Prep offers many extracurriculars in fine arts and academics. Although Veritas Prep is a small school, the Speech and Debate team is competitive.
The school also offers numerous musical groups, such as a Madrigal Choir, Men's chorus, Junior Class Choir Voces, Junior High Girls' Chorus, and a string quartet.
VPA also offers an Art Club; a Hiking Club; a Journalism Club; Latin Club; Science Bowl; a Speech and Debate Team; The Falcon/the school's newspaper; and World Cultures Club.
The drama groups are phenomenal, expressing works of art such as Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, Oedipus Rex, and many others.

Athletic extracurriculars

Veritas Prep competes in the AIA (Arizona Interscholastic Association

Arizona Interscholastic Association

The Arizona Interscholastic Association is the major high school sports association in the state of Arizona. It comprises most of the state's public district high schools, various charter and private schools, plus one high school in California San Pasqual High School in Winterhaven, California,...

) in the 1A Conference's Central Region.
Veritas Preparatory Academy offers the following athletic teams:

• Junior High Boys
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Cross Country
  • Football
  • Soccer
  • Track and Field

• Junior High Girls
  • Basketball
  • Cross Country
  • Volleyball
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Track and Field

• High School Boys
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Cross Country
  • Golf
  • Football
  • Soccer
  • Tennis
  • Track and Field

• High School Girls
  • Basketball
  • Cross Country
  • Golf
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Tennis
  • Track and Field
  • Volleyball

Senior thesis and defense

Senior students at Veritas Preparatory Academy must complete a written thesis and defense before receiving a diploma from the school. Students are required to write a fifteen page thesis based upon three texts, one of which must be a VPA curriculum text. They are advised by a faculty member and must appear before a defense committee.

Senior trip

On an annual basis during the school's spring break, senior students join faculty members on a trip to Washington D.C.

Dress code

A strict dress code is enforced for all students. Male students wear khaki slacks or shorts(depending upon the season), white or navy blue polos, dark socks(white with shorts) and dress shoes, while female students have their choice of knee length skirts in plaid or navy blue dress slacks or shorts, white or navy blue polos, and appropriate socks. Students must maintain conservative standards. Students may also wear white oxford, long- or short-sleeved, and the option of a dark blue sweater vest. For full dress code see veritasprepacademy.org