Open since 2008, Sky Islands High School is a 501c3 public charter school in Tucson, Arizona.  We are more than an arts and science charter school – we are a community focused on inspiring our students to be lifelong learners.

At Sky Islands, a small, passionate group of teachers build deep supportive relationships with students, and students develop deep friendships with one another. We prepare students for their journeys in life by teaching them to think, question, discover their own passions and beliefs, and find their true north. Our students leave well-prepared by any academic measure, but – far more importantly – they leave with an understanding of themselves, and the world in which they must make their way. Together they discover, debate, and evolve – learning to be inspired by the courage of ideas, ideals, and the people seeking to make the world a better place through action or tikkun olam.

At SIHS, we strive to educate our students through “hand on” experiences and through educators who have a wealth of world experience. Leighton Jeffy, our English and World Literature teacher, is the head of this trip.  A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Leighton is a 2007 graduate of the University of Arizona, with a B.A. in English Literature and a B.A. in Creative Writing. In 2009 he received Secondary Education English Certification at Pima Community College.

When not in the English classroom, Leighton travels – from age 17 on, he has spent over a decade living and traveling extensively in Egypt, India, South East Asia, and has spent time on a Kibbutz in Southern Israel. Those journeys make their way into his classroom and bring Language Arts alive with the peoples, stories, and histories of the world.

“When asked why Holocaust survivors must tell their story, Primo Levi said: “Those who deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it.”  I believe that the best way to fulfill one of Levi’s final wishes is to educate our youth in The Shoah. In my 11th grade World Literature class, I teach Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night and Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. In order to make these works, and the events therein, more tangible, I would like to take my class to the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles. I am thankfully able to have my class speak with a Holocaust Survivor, who was my Elementary School teacher, but this year I would like to make the unit a more immersive experience for the students with a trip to the Museum.”    – Mr. Jeffy