Fuqua School
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| Fuqua School | |
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Scientia volamus
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| Location | |
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| 605 Fuqua Drive Farmville, VA 23901 |
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| Information | |
| President | Ruth S. Murphy |
| Dean | Rick Davis |
| Enrollment |
572 |
| Type | Private |
| Grades | Pre-K - 12th |
| Mascot | Falcon |
| Color(s) | Red and Gold |
| Established | 1959 |
| Information | 434-392-4131 |
| Endowment | $6.0 million |
| Homepage | Link |
Fuqua School is a private primary and secondary school located in Farmville, Virginia. It is named after J.B. Fuqua, who made a large contribution to the school in 1992 to save it from financial insolvency. The school is fully accredited by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools[1], the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools[2], and the National Association for the Education of Young Children[3].
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[edit] History
Fuqua School was founded in 1959 as Prince Edward Academy by land donated from the town of Farmville after it closed the town landfill. The school was established as a segregation academy after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education as a way for white students who were affected by the school closings to receive an education during the period of massive resistance to desgregration. When the public schools were reopened and integrated, Prince Edward Academy stood as an option for families who did not want to participate in integration. Obviously, it did not accept non-white students, but ended its policy of discrimination with very little fanfare in the mid 1970s. Its association with "old money" and discrimination in the past still causes some tension in the Farmville community, especially amongst non-whites and students of the local public schools.
By the early 1990s, with aging technology, a very small alumni contribution base, and an increasing debt, Prince Edward Academy was nearing financial collapse. In 1992, former local resident and businessman J.B. Fuqua donated about 10 million dollars to pay off debts and install necessary improvements to the school, such as air conditioning and computers. The school was transformed at that point with new administration, new mascot and school colors, in addition to the school name change. Until his passing in 2006, Mr. Fuqua donated thousands of dollars to the school each year and regularly visited the school and its students.
Mr. Fuqua's final gift to Fuqua School was a charitable bequest in the amount of $5 million, which will be invested as a permanent endowment for the school.
[edit] Campus
Fuqua School is located on a 60-acre campus in Farmville, Virginia. Campus facilities include:[4]
Lower School
Lower School Commons--Built in 1993 after J.B. Fuqua's initial gift to the school. Contains the Lower School gymnasium, dining facilities, library media center, visual arts studio, science instructional laboratory, technology instructional area, music studio, and guidance and administrative offices including the Lower School Dean.
Instructional Space--Each classroom contains five computers, a television, VCR, and telephone.
Recreational Space--The Lower School campus includes several recreational areas and a common green for schoolwide events
Middle and Upper Schools
Academic Facilities
Kilpatrick Library Media Center--Contains over 11,000 volumes for use by students and faculty. Also houses the school's closed circuit television network, computers available for student use, and other instructional technology resources.[5]
Instructional Space--Each classroom contains a television, VCR, and telephone. The Upper/Middle School campus also includes three computer labs, a science instructional laboratory and preproom, and a business education suite.
Arts Facilities
Music--Band rehearsal room and performance space
Theatre--Studio theatre with lighting and sound systems, dressing room, and green room space
Visual Arts--Arts studios including facilities and materials necessary for drawing/painting, sculpture/ceramics, and mixed media.
Athletics Facilities
Wall Memorial Building--Contains the Upper/Middle School gymnasium, basketball locker rooms, a newly renovated Fuqua School fitness center for student athletes and faculty, stage for theatrical and school assembly purposes, and the athletics administrative offices.
Gilmer Field--Fuqua School's football/baseball stadium
Swimming pool complex--Adjacent to the Gee-Price building. Includes an outdoor pool open in the summer to the public through YMCA partnership.
Athletic fields and facilities--Softball field, soccer field, quarter-mile track, tennis courts, recreational areas, and practice fields
Administrative Facilities
Gee-Price Building--Includes the Gee-Price Activity Center (a multi-purpose space used as dining facilities and for social events), the office of the president, the business office, and the office of admissions and alumni affairs
Upper/Middle School Administrative Offices--Adjacent to the Kilpatrick Library Media Center, includes the office of the Upper School dean, the registrar, career and guidance, and school nurse.
[edit] Curriculum
Fuqua School's college preparatory curriculum is based on standards set by the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) and modeled after successful curricula at other schools and school districts. The school's instructional program is based on a concept of "continuous progress," in which a student is allowed to progress through material at his or her own rate of learning without the limitations of traditional grade level caps.[6]
The Lower School uses multi-aged classrooms (K/1, 2/3, 4/5), enabling students to remain with the same teacher for two years. In addition to core academic subjects, Lower School students are provided with weekly instruction in art, music, media, computer, and physical education. A full-time science lab coordinator incorporates weekly science lab experiences into the curriculum for all Lower School (K-5) students. The average class size at the Lower School is 18 students. All classes for grades pre-kindergarten through three have a full time teaching assistant in addition to the primary teacher, and the four/five classes have a part time assistant.
The Middle School faculty is organized into instructional teams, enabling teachers to coordinate curricular plans to allow for cross-disciplinary discussion, to monitor students' educational and social well-being, and to have ample planning time. Middle School students have the opportunity to take a wide range of electives in addition to the core curriculum, which includes multimedia and Latin (grade 7). The average Middle School class size is 20 students.
The Upper School academic schedule operates by a semester block system, in which students complete a yearlong course in one semester by taking four classes at a time instead of seven. This system allows for more student flexibility in developing a course of study that matches one's own interests and skills, in addition to reducing the fragmentation of classwork and the school day. Due to the school's small size, the course offering is somewhat limited, but the Upper School curriculum does include seven Advanced Placement courses (English, U.S. History, U.S. Government, Calculus AB, Biology, Spanish, Studio Art) and a wide range of electives (Band, Theatre, Visual Arts, Art History, Yearbook, Journalism, Applied Industrial Technology, Ethical Issues, Current Events, Film Studies, Environmental Science, etc.). The Upper School is particularly well-known for its strong, college-prep business department, which is frequently recognized at the state and national level for its rigor and for the success of its students. This business program, initiated by J.B. Fuqua, provides on-site college-credit courses in accounting, computer technology, and public speaking. Third- and fourth-year students at the Upper School are also able to enroll in any course at nearby Hampden-Sydney College under a tuition-exchange program whereby they earn both high school and college credit for advanced coursework at the college. The average Upper School class size is 18 students, with classes ranging from 3 to 24 students.
[edit] Athletics
Fuqua School athletes participate in the following sports:[7]
Fall Sports
Varsity and Junior Varsity Boys Football
Varsity and Junior Varsity Girls Volleyball
Co-ed Cross Country
Varsity and Junior Varsity Cheerleading
Co-ed Basketball Intramurals (Lower/Middle)
Winter Sports
Varsity and Junior Varsity Boys Basketball
Middle School Boys Basketball
Varsity and Junior Varsity Girls Basketball
Middle School Girls Basketball
Co-ed Swimming
Varsity and Junior Varsity Cheerleading
Spring Sports
Varsity and Junior Varsity Boys Baseball
Varsity and Junior Varsity Girls Softball
Boys Tennis
Girls Tennis
Co-ed Soccer
Co-ed Golf
Co-ed Track
Co-ed Basketball Intramurals (Lower/Middle)
Fuqua School is a member of the Virginia Commonwealth Conference, which includes Amelia Academy, Blessed Sacrament Huguenot, Broadwater Academy, Brunswick Academy, Christchurch School, Isle of Wight Academy, Kenston Forest School, Southampton Academy, Tidewater Academy, Richmond Christian School, and the Steward School. Fuqua's cross-country, track, and swimming teams compete with schools in the Blue Ridge Conference.[8]
[edit] Student Life
Clubs and Organizations
Fuqua students engage in a variety of academic, service, and social organizations including Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), the Ecology Club, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Youth and Government, the Spanish Club, Youth for Christ, and the National Honor Society (NHS). Student Council Associations at all three schools (Lower, Middle, and Upper) offer leadership opportunities to students interested in working to improve student life at Fuqua.
Student Body
The size of a graduating class at Fuqua is typically very small; graduating class size averages about 40 students. While the class composition has been stereotypically described as white, Protestant, conservative, and affluent, all classes are ethnically diverse and represent a wide variety of religious beliefs. The school has worked hard in recent years to overcome the stigma of its segregated past, as evidenced by the ex officio position of the Fuqua School President on the R.R. Moton High School Museum Board of Directors.[9] These facts, along with modest tuition rates, small class sizes, and the perception that the local public schools are of low quality tend to attract students from a wide geographic area in Southern Virginia. Buses run over 50 miles away to pick up students, and it is not uncommon for students living over 60 miles away to attend Fuqua.
College and Employment
Usually all of a graduating class will attend some sort of college, while about 80% of the class attends a four year college. The graduating class also receives many acceptance letters each year to regional and national institutions of higher learning including Virginia Tech, the University of Richmond, the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, MIT, and Duke University. Recent graduating classes (with an average size of 40) have each been offered in excess of $2,000,000 in scholarship monies for post-secondary education.
[edit] Notable Alumni
Ed Clark - President, Atlanta Motor Speedway
Bradley Lawrence Watson - First Vice President, Davenport & Company LLC
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ^ Virginia Association of Independent Schools
- ^ Online Reporting
- ^ http://www.naeyc.org/academy/web_ready/search/
- ^ Fuqua School - Overview
- ^ Fuqua School - General Information
- ^ Fuqua School - Overview
- ^ Fuqua School - Athletic Teams
- ^ Fuqua School - Virginia Commonwealth Conference (VCC)
- ^ Moton Museum: Board of Directors
