Maybeck High School

Maybeck High School was founded by a group of educators 40 years ago who set out to create a school where scholarship, independence, and curiosity were shared by faculty and students alike. The school was shaped as a community of teachers who wanted to share in the work of defining the school structure as well as the work of leading classrooms. Today we value that same inclusion. Maybeck is a teacher-run school where the staff asks of themselves the same things we ask of our students; to question, to listen, to lead and to strive for excellence.

A Maybeck education provides students with confidence, intellectual ease, and grace in the world. Over and over we hear from alumni that the success they have in college and beyond has its origins in a Maybeck classroom. We are proud of what we do and look forward to sharing our school with you.

We encourage all forms of intellectual and personal individuality. Every student here is an important part of our community. Staff and students get to know each other — it’s an open, supportive community. If you want a place where your ideas will be heard, and where you actually like your teachers, then Maybeck is the right place for you.

Each student and teacher is valued for the individual contributions they make to the larger whole — our community. Whether it is under the redwoods, around the table in a seminar class, on the basketball court, in a science lab, or on the stage, the unique energy of each student is shared with their peers. Differences are explored as we learn, deepen connections and grow as students.

Maybeck is a community dedicated to learning, where all forms of diversity can flourish amid mutual support, respect, and responsibility. Through our small classes, high expectations, academic excellence, and programs outside the school, students prepare for college and acquire the tools to engage actively and creatively in the wider world.

Our small classes foster close relationships between students and the faculty; student-teacher dialogue frequently extends outside of the classroom. Students forge life-long friendships with each other as well as with faculty members. Maybeck welcomes students of all backgrounds and provides a safe, supportive environment where they can explore their self-expression and be themselves. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment in any form.

Our seminar-style classes encourage students to be fully present in the classroom. All students have a contact teacher whom they can consult about any issue, and our counselor works closely with students up to and throughout the college application process. Our seminar-style classes encourage students to be fully present in the classroom. All students have a contact teacher whom they can consult about any issue, and our counselor works closely with students up to and throughout the college application process.

We begin and end each year with a whole-school camping trip that encourages students to work as a community and spend time together by rivers, on hikes and under the stars. Students listen to lectures given by faculty and take classes on benches under trees on a variety of subjects. We experience learning out-of-doors to complement and enrich our studies at Maybeck.

We reserve two weeks each spring for Special Programs, during which students intensely pursue a specialized activity. Local programs have included bicycling, mural and oil painting, desert wild flowers, kite-making, and photography. Travel programs have taken students to China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Vietnam. We hold sports days and film festivals, sponsor student plays, host an annual Film and Arts Night, and take trips to local theatrical productions.

Each student completes a 60-hour community service project. Our graduates have founded local companies, become faculty members at Columbia and UC Berkeley, and reported from the front lines in Iraq. Maybeck’s focus on the larger world encourages all students to begin an educational journey that will last a lifetime. With input from Students, Current Parents, Alumni, Parents of Alumni, Staff and the Board, the school has developed a Strategic Plan.

At Maybeck, we pride ourselves in the relationships we cultivate with our students during their time at the school. Those connections begin the moment you walk through the door for an Open House and strengthen throughout the admissions process. From the shadow visit to the interview, each trip to Maybeck gives prospective families a chance to see how much we value our tight-knit community, while welcoming in new students with open arms.

By the time a student is enrolled at Maybeck, they already feel they belong here, that they have found their place. Our small, intimate classrooms, shared intellectual responsibility, all-school activities, and personalized college search process will reiterate how important these close connections are to both students and staff alike. If you pull anyone aside and ask what made them choose Maybeck, most will say the strong relationships that form between the people here. The clearest example of that happens at graduation each year. The personal speeches made by staff members to honor every graduate are a culmination of the deep connections formed over the years.