Our mission is to offer our students the opportunity: to learn in an excellent educational program that will affirm and nurture their academic talent; to participate in the arts, community service, athletic and other extra-curricular activities; and to develop confidence and independence as they prepare not only for college, but also for a future as active, effective contributors to society;

To offer the community dedicated minority students who, because of their desire to learn and participate in a strong and successful secondary education environment, will bring their talent, energy and diversity to New Canaan High School and to the New Canaan community as a whole.

Our mission in a larger context:

^{…one challenge to the national interest is to make certain that we can provide quality education to all, especially disadvantaged children. The American ideal is one of equal opportunity, not equal outcome. This is the glue that holds together our multiethnic democracy. If we ever stop believing that what matters is not where you came from but where you are going, we will most certainly lose confidence. And an unconfident America cannot lead. We will turn inward. We will see economic competition, foreign trade and investment, and the complicated world beyond our shores not as challenges to which our nation can rise but as threats that we should avoid. That is why access to education is a critical national security issue.”}

Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice

Foreign Affairs July/August 2008