Ambitious Bulgarian parents have faced the daunting task of finding the best school for their children—one providing high-quality education that meets current social and economic needs—ever since the 19th century.
The first American high schools outside the United States, known as “colleges,” opened their doors in the mid-1800s in the territories of the former Ottoman Empire and offered progressive education that prepared students to be useful members of their societies. Many young Bulgarians enrolled at the newly opened colleges in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Edirne, Plovdiv, and Stara Zagora. Robert College in Constantinople, founded in 1863, was especially popular. The first American boys’ college in what would become Bulgaria had opened doors in Plovdiv three years earlier. In 1863, a girls’ college was founded in Stara Zagora (later the two colleges merged to form the American College of Sofia). The American girls’ college in Lovech opened after Bulgarian independence.
The strength of these institutions was not in offering religious education in the students’ mother tongue, although they were founded by American Protestants, and theology was one of the important subjects taught there. American colleges’ success hinged on the use of modern educational methods and their emphasis on cultivating leaders that would become their communities’ pillars. The American schools were also a good alternative to Greek and Russian high schools, where children of the Bulgarian elite studied almost exclusively at the time.
The influence of American colleges was not limited to education. Many Bulgarian statesmen and other public figures studied at American colleges across the Balkan Peninsula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. American missionaries supported the movement to establish an independent Bulgarian church by paying to have the Bible and other key religious texts translated into Bulgarian. Historians believe that the eyewitness reports of American teachers about the bloody suppression of the 1876 April Uprising were instrumental in drawing Western countries’ attention to the fate of the Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule.
The American College of Sofia (ACS) is a worthy heir to the tradition of excellence in education established by its nineteenth-century predecessors. ACS students are among the top scorers on school exams and at international science competitions and go on to occupy important positions in Bulgarian society. In recognition of the institution’s contribution to young people’s education in Bulgaria, the America for Bulgaria Foundation supported the renovation of the school campus. The renovated campus was officially unveiled in the presence of high-ranking guests on May 18, 2018.
