The American School of South Sudan is a private educational institution located in Juba, South Sudan. Our goal is to prepare students for life by teaching skills that will enable them to achieve academic excellence and become productive, peaceful, global citizens in this ever-changing world. More specifically, we want to give South Sudanese youth the chance to pursue advanced degrees internationally, with the explicit goal of returning to South Sudan empowered to build the nation organically. We use the American Core Standard as a basis for our curriculum, but also focus on incorporating the unique heritage of each student into our school’s culture. In 2009, sisters-in-law Nok Nora Bassey and Aprelle Duany were searching for a nursery school in Juba, South Sudan, for Aprelle’s two-year old daughter, Janai. They wanted to—but were ultimately not able to—find an environment where Janai would be empowered to grow and play with other children. Outside of Juba, the shortage was even worse. Nok and Aprelle were determined to create a solution; so later that year, they opened a private preschool in Juba called Juba Kidz Zone. In July 2013, after four successful school years at Juba Kidz Zone, we decided to expand our vision by creating The American School of South Sudan. Our goal is to develop a PreK-12 program with multiple school sites. We aspire to provide educations of empowerment and peace that can be used to build South Sudan and its connections with the world.
