Boarding School for Troubled Teens in Arizona

Fenster School of Southern Arizona, Tucson:
The Fenster School is a private co-educational boarding school for troubled high school teens who want to get on track academically. We are located in Tucson, Arizona and provide an alternative high school program to both US and international students. As a college preparatory boarding school, we are dedicated to providing an academic structure that leads to success. We provide a traditional curriculum of the core subject areas needed for a successful college placement. All curriculums support writing, reading and math. These targeted areas are essential to better prepare students for the PSAT, ACT and SAT national assessments.

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The programs and experiences at the Fenster School seek to achieve these objectives:

- To encourage and guide the academic and social development of our students, thus assisting them to discover and strive toward fulfilling their potential.

- To provide students with the academic skills necessary for success in higher education.

- To foster self-confidence, self-esteem, self-discipline and a sense of responsibility in each of our students.

- To encourage our students to become sensitive toward diversity in people, value systems and lifestyles.

At the Fenster School, we endeavor to meet these objectives by:

- Creating an environment that encourages cooperative and supportive interactions and relationships among the members of the school community.

- Providing a faculty and staff who are firmly committed to our students’ success.

- Setting challenging, yet reasonable standards, of academic achievement, personal performance and social behavior.

- Offering learning experiences designed to develop and refine essential skills, academic knowledge and competencies; specifically, communication skills, mathematical skills, learning and study skills, reference and research skills, and critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving skills.

- Offering small teaching sections, which enhance our ability to monitor and to encourage each student’s academic progress.

- Offering activities and experiences to complement classroom instruction and to increase students’ awareness and knowledge of their own athletic, creative, artistic and leadership abilities.

- Encouraging and assisting our students in finding areas of school life in which they can actively participate.

We offer an alternative high school program for students grade 9 through to grade 12. We also have a very strong ESL program to help students get into and succeed in college.

We specifically reach out to teenagers who have the intellect but are doing poorly in school. Fenster has very small classes - averaging 6 to 8 students per teacher. This allows us to work one-on-one with each student. to bring their grades up. 

At the end of every seven period class day, teachers are expected to identify the students who need extra help. Tutorials are then utilized for those students. The 8th period tutorials provide the students with the opportunity to work with their teachers and to get back on track. This targeted, daily tutoring gives our students the educational boost they need to succeed. Fenster believes in academic structure, therefore, every effort is made to ensure that the students' needs are being met in the classroom.

The development of each student's program is flexible, taking into account previous academic experience and post secondary plans. Course placement is subject to review of academic transcripts and relevant testing…..college concurrent classes are offered to all seniors.

Our goal is to have every graduating senior be accepted to a four year school and take college dual enrollment classes at Fenster school. All teachers have degrees in the content areas and over half the staff has a masters or PH.D. Degree. Our teaching staff is the strength of the academic program.

As a coed boarding school, Fenster provides a supportive learning environment for the capable, underachieving student to get back on track academically.

In class room settings, on campus and daily in our morning and afternoon homeroom sessions, students receive immediate recognition along with their peers for individual and class accomplishments, boosting self esteem and reinforcing positive behavior. Integrity is expected, both academically and personally. Cheating on class assignments has immediate academic consequences. Stealing, abusing our bodies with drugs or alcohol, damaging property or disrespecting others all have immediate behavioral consequences.

Daily monitoring of academics, attendance, homework and behavior, combined with small classrooms, provide a structure that encourages success.

- Accredited by North Central Association of Colleges & School
- Member of Arizona Association of Independent Schools
- Member of National Association of Independent Schools
- Member of Southwestern Boarding School Association
- Member of Western Boarding Schools Association

Fenster Boarding School's 150-acre campus is nestled in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, surrounded by the warmth and beauty of the Sonoran Desert. The desert environment sustains many varieties of plant and animal life unique to this region. The adjacent Santa Catalina Mountains tower over the Tucson valley, offering canyons, creeks and waterfalls to explore, as well as Mount Lemmon, the country's southern-most ski area. Students can hike, ski, ride horses, or swim - all in the same day.

The Fenster Boarding School grounds include stables, playing field, basketball courts, swimming pool, aerobics/spinning studio, ropes course with climbing tower and weight lifting. Near the rustic adobe buildings of the campus lay ancient Hohokam Indian archeological sites. Despite the desert environment, this site flourished as a Hohokam community centuries ago.

Our unique environment is both rural and urban. The proximity to downtown Tucson is an asset to our academic and social programs. A minimum of four weekend trips provides students the opportunity to sample the varied events Tucson offers. Fenster's Tucson location provides access to diverse cosmopolitan, cultural activities such as theater, symphonies, movies, museums, as well as the University of Arizona, which promotes cultural and sporting events.

Other interesting excursions may include the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, Old Tucson Movie Studios, Mexico, the Grand Canyon, and trips to southern California.