Our History
Veritas Academy began like so many things do – with one man’s vision. It was the spring of 1996 and the man was working rather discontentedly as an engineer in Oregon. Having newly come to Christ, he rose early one morning to pray and read his Bible. He read, “Then he called his twelve…And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1-2) and afterward had a vision of a facility that housed a school, physician’s clinic, and church. There and then he offered up a fleece to the Lord, saying if he was accepted into medical school he would become a doctor.
Twelve years later, while performing a routine exam, his patient offhandedly began to tell him about a Christian academy in Austin, Texas that had adopted what was called a University-Model® (UMS). He was intrigued and immediately called his wife who was at home with their two young girls. Though their girls were not yet of school age, they, along with several other families, had been struggling with the schooling options available to them in Tucson. They wanted their children to have an academically rigorous, Christ-centered education and – believing it was their God-given responsibility to disciple their children in Christ – they wanted to be significantly involved in administering that education.
A week later they presented the concept to another couple over dinner and they resolved to begin praying seriously about opening a school. The new couple, in turn, explained the idea to another woman and she agreed, along with her husband, to give the matter prayerful consideration. That summer, the three women attended the UMS conference in Ft. Worth, Texas. In August 2008 the three couples formed a board and began to divide up responsibilities. The result of their efforts was the formation of Veritas Academy of Tucson in Tucson, Arizona, a private school with plans to service grades K-12.
Veritas Academy of Tucson is a private, classical Christian school that utilizes a university-type schedule and a teacher-parent integrated instructional approach. As a University-Model® School (UMS), Veritas Academy of Tucson combines two proven elements of educational success ‑ the professional classroom instruction of a teacher and the caring at-home mentoring of a parent ‑ into a single, unified, college-simulated program. In doing so, it seeks to encourage a high level of academic achievement as well as strong ties between parents and their children.
As a classical school, Veritas Academy is oriented toward re-instating the belief that “God is the Light in which we see and understand everything.” We employ a classical curriculum which emphasizes great literature and the chronological study of historical periods. Rather than promote a set body of facts to be mastered, we seek to cultivate a mindset that is firmly rooted in the traditions of Western culture, and the knowledge and wisdom of a time when Christ and Christianity were the center and foundation of all learning.
Other proven elements of the school’s program include character education, low student/teacher ratios, hands-on learning, a strong student work ethic, an effective college-preparatory curriculum, character-building student activities, and servant-minded local operation and management.
The school was officially incorporated in May of 2008 and opened for its first day of classes in August 2010. Veritas Academy of Tucson, along with her sister university-model® schools in other parts of the country, have consistently demonstrated that it is indeed possible for both parents and teachers to effectively work together for the common goal of providing God’s children with a high quality, Christian education, an education that is both cost-effective and strengthening to families.
