Our History
Harkness Institute was founded by Mr. David Bender in 2010 as a bicultural, bilingual high school with the firm belief that education in Mexico should and could be improved.
Our Beginnings
Harkness Institute opened its doors in the fall of 2010 with 5 boys and 7 girls in grades 10 and 11, 7 teachers, and founder David Bender. Classes were held in rented space in Bucerías. In 2013, enrollment had grown to 71 students and the school moved to its current location in Av. Cocoteros, Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit. The first class graduated in 2011. Harkness Institute today serves over 80 young women and men in grades 10 through 12.
The Expansion
In 2019, a group of businessmen and entrepreneurs, Patricio Mendizabal, Oscar Zermeño and Alvaro Lopez backed by Harkness Institute, founded the Harkness Initiative whose objective is to roll out expansion campuses of Harkness Institute throughout all of Mexico´s mayor cities.
An Ambitious Mission
The uniqueness of Harkness is due, in large part, to its commitment to a needs-blind admission policy. We believe that no talented young woman or man in Mexico should be left without the opportunity to be successful. Only after students have been chosen are their tuition needs assessed. We provide scholarships to over 40% of the student body with need-based assistance and find individual and corporate sponsors to students with financial need.
