Story of the School

What does it mean to be well-educated? Hundred Hills exists today because of this question.

The mission to bring a world-class school to the Santa Ynez Valley is deeply personal to our founders. When they returned to the valley in 2020 to raise their family, they faced a question many parents ask: how do you give your children an education that opens the fullness of life? One that holds a vision not just of what a child will know next year, but of who they could become at 25, at 40, at 70.

When they discovered Waldorf, they found their answer. What began as curiosity became conviction. Conviction became vision. Vision became an obsession that would not let go. In 2023, they met Chinyelu Kunz and the dream of Hundred Hills became a commitment. In the fall of 2025, the school launched with its first class of eight students. In April 2026, our campus officially opened. The physical home for this dream, designed from the ground up to give children the space to grow intellectually, artistically, and socially with purpose.

We believe a well-educated child possesses options. Doors open. They can choose a path aligned with their gifts, their passions, their character. In economic terms, optionality is extraordinarily valuable. In human terms, it is freedom. Our long-view definition of success is simple but profound: we aim to graduate young people who think with clarity, feel with compassion, and act with intention. When a child begins their educational journey here and then moves into the world able to reason independently, care deeply, and move through the world with purpose, we will have done our job.

Today, Hundred Hills is a private, nonprofit, co-educational day school serving students from Preschool through Kindergarten, with a foundation built to grow through Grade 8. Our mission is to cultivate each child's intrinsic human value and set them on the path toward a purpose-driven life. We believe a Waldorf-inspired education is more essential than ever in preparing children for a future that will reward those who can think, create, and act with creativity, context, and critical insight.

This is only the beginning.