From How to Found a Girls' School: "…I once heard that the word, 'enthusiasm,' comes from the Greek, meaning 'brushed by the wings of the angels.' My own enthusiasm, mostly for social justice, has led me to work to found two girls’ schools, the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, and the Pine Ridge Girls’ School in South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge reservation. Though I’m neither an educator nor a proper philanthropist, I never wavered before either undertaking, thanks to my own empowering single-sex education at Wellesley College.
"This kind of empowerment, this gift of enthusiasm, is what I want for all girls."
Victoria Shorr
Anpo Wicahpi, The Pine Ridge Girls' School, Porcupine, S.D.
The first college-prep, culturally based, independent girls’ school on a Native reservation in America. Co-founded by Shorr in 2016, the Pine Ridge Girls’ School is changing the trajectory of the lives of the Lakota girls of the Pine Ridge, empowering them with a curriculum grounded in Lakota language and culture, and preparing them all for college and beyond.
The Archer School for Girls, Los Angeles
Co-founded in response to the Clarence Thomas hearings, with the specific mission of educating young activist women to replace those old white faces who sat in judgment over Anita Hill in the Senate those bleak days. The Archer School opened its doors to 33 girls in 1995. There are 500 girls sitting in its classrooms today.