The Athenian private School

In the foothills of Mount Diablo, Dyke Brown founded The Athenian School in 1965. Athenian was a co-educational boarding school that successfully attracted students of color and international students, which was unusual at a time when nearly all boarding schools were single-gender and did not admit students of color. Brown understood that the greatest way to improve the learning environment for all students would be to create a community that benefited from the abilities of a wide range of pupils. Athenian was once exclusively a boarding school. However, in the late 1970s, day students were admitted to the Middle School, and by the 1990s, day students outnumbered boarding students at the Upper School. Berkeley is where Brown was raised. He spent six months at the Salem School in Germany after graduating from Piedmont High School in 1931, where he became friends with Kurt Hahn, the school's founder. Hahn, who also founded Outward Bound and the United World College Movement, was renowned for his innovative approach to education. To have a strong inner core for when they did eventually "meet" the outside world, Brown envisioned a school where kids could allow their natural and innate curiosity and goodness to develop into their adolescent years. Athenian has remained committed to encouraging active learning since it equips students for lives of intellectual inquiry and significant service.