Archer Founder Victoria Shorr in Wellesley Magazine
Wellesley Magazine featured Victoria Shorr and her work in founding The Archer School for Girls.
Wellesley Magazine's Spring 2015 issue featured Victoria Shorr and her work in founding The Archer School for Girls with Megan Callaway and Dr. Diana Meehan.
Excerpt from, "Educated to Care," by Katharine Reece, Wellesley Magazine, Spring 2015
Vicky and Diana both independently came up with Archer as a name—Vicky thinking of Henry James's heroine Isabel Archer, and Diana thinking of the Greek goddess Artemis, a protector of girls and women. The Archer School for Girls opened its doors in the fall of 1995 to 33 girls, including Vicky's and Diana's daughters.
Two decades later, Vicky (now a trustee emerita) visited the school, which currently educates 500 girls. She attended a seventh-grade class in which the girls all shared why they chose Archer. They said things such as, "We all feel like sisters here," and "Here, I can excel in math." Vicky turned to the teacher and asked, "Was this staged for me? That these girls are saying what I dreamed they would have said?"
The Archer School for Girls admits students of any race, color, religion, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation or other legally protected status to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation or other legally protected status in its hiring or in the administration of its educational policies and programs, admissions policies, financial aid programs or other school-administered programs.
The Archer School for Girls’ mission is to educate students in an environment specifically designed for girls. As such, the school will consider any candidate for admission who identifies as a girl. Once admitted to Archer, all students in good academic standing who abide by Archer’s code of conduct and who meet requirements for graduation will be eligible to receive an Archer diploma, regardless of any change in sexual identity or other legally protected status.
