The American Farm School of Thessaloniki, Greece, is an independent, non-profit educational institution founded in 1904 to serve the rural population of Greece and the surrounding region. The School’s founder, Dr. John Henry House, was a practical idealist who believed in educating the whole individual: the head, the hands and the heart, so that when graduates would return to their home towns they would educate others through their sound agricultural practices. After a century of implementing the founder’s vision, the American Farm School today remains dedicated to the institution’s hallmark: the dynamic fusion of theory and practice in all levels of agricultural education. The American Farm School’s Secondary Education sector currently operates three schools: General Lyceum (G.E.L.), Professional / Vocational Lyceum (Epa.L.) and Vocational School (Epa.S.), all fully accredited by the Greek Ministry of Education and fully equivalent to all Greek public schools. The American Farm School’s Secondary Education Schools constitute the most populous of the institution. A total number of 230 students, boys and girls, attend classes in its modern and well-equipped school classroom buildings, installations and workshops as well as the school’s fully operational production and demonstration farm. The School prepares its graduates for prominent roles in community life and in the agriculture and food sectors by teaching farming and business practices that are economically viable, ecologically sound and socially responsible.

The secondary school offers girls and boys from every corner of Greece an accredited general high school education along with a practical focus on a full range of agricultural subjects. The students live in campus dormitories and enjoy a rich extracurricular program that reinforces strong traditions in Greek culture while creating a warm sense of community on campus. The school administration, respecting and abiding by the school founder’s wishes and philosophy, offers scholarships to all its secondary education students, so that they pay only a small fraction of the total cost of their education.