A Model of our Vision

Keely Badger

This month we caught up with one of our alumni who attended Sedona Charter School in its early years, before it even found a home on Kachina Drive. Keely Badger was a student in our Lower Elementary classroom with Bob Wentsch as Principal Educator, and after attending another school for grades 4-6, she returned to our Middle School classroom where Michelle Price was her Principal Educator.

Even though she attended other elementary schools, Keely reports that she is particularly grateful for her time at SCS. “I learned to relate to the world through a holistic curriculum which fostered and encouraged exploration and individual creativity. Of all my teachers, Michelle Price remains the one that stands out as the most impactful. She helped to cultivate my writing skills, deepened my critical thinking, and instilled in me a more community-centered set of problem solving skills that I attribute directly to her dynamic pedagogy. Each of those skills continues to give me the competitive edge both academically and professionally.”

Keely attended Sedona Red Rock High from 2002-2006, graduating as Class Valedictorian; President of the National Honors Society; and All-State Goalkeeper for the winning women’s soccer team— the Scorpions. From there she went on to attend the University of San Diego on an academic scholarship, graduating magna cum laude in 2011 with high honors in both Political Science and Cultural Anthropology. Following the completion of her undergraduate career, Keely earned her Master of Arts degree in Globalization Studies at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2014.

Keely is currently pursuing her degree in International Human Rights Law at University of Oxford, England while also serving as Director of the Neda Nobari Foundation and Director of Global Partnerships for Social Impact Media Awards, based in Los Angeles.

Her interest and experience in helping to improve people’s lives around the world has also earned her a position as the youngest board member of the Human Rights Watch Women’s Rights Committee; as a Next Generation member of the World Affairs Council; and as a civil society Youth Observer at the United Nations.

Taking a moment to reflect on her years at Sedona Charter School, Keely says, “I want to thank all my teachers at SCS for their excellence and commitment to a dynamic education that stays with a student for a lifetime!”