Jackson Academy (Mississippi)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Name Motto |
Jackson Academy |
| Address |
4908 Ridgewood Road |
| City | |
| Established |
1959 |
| Type |
Independent |
| Religion |
Secular |
| Students |
Coeducational |
| Grades |
K3 through 12 |
| Membership and Accreditations |
National Association of Independent Schools, Southern Association of Independent Schools, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Mississippi Private School Association |
| Mascot |
Raiders |
| Colors |
Navy, Silver and White |
| Yearbook |
Reflections |
| Newspaper |
JA Chronicle |
| Website | |
Jackson Academy is an independent, co-educational college preparatory school in Jackson, Mississippi. Unlike many other private schools that were founded in protest to the forced integration of the public school system, Jackson Academy was founded in 1959 as a protest to sight reading and as a proponent of reading by phonics. In the spring of 1979, the campus was entirely flooded. Today, the campus is thriving with nearly 1450 students in grades K3 through 12. The school is a member of the prestigious Cum Laude Society Academic Honorary, one of only four charter members in Mississippi.
JA is the largest independent school in Mississippi. Its mission is "to serve students who aspire to higher education and lifelong learning in a balanced and nurturing environment in which each student is valued and is challenged to become a responsible citizen who can achieve his or her intellectual, spiritual, emotional, social, and physical potential."
Contents |
[edit] Leadership of the school & JA's future
Peter Jernberg was JA's Headmaster from July 1988 until November 2005, when became the school's President. Jernberg also serves on the Board for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is the past president of the Delta State University Foundation and the Southern Association of Independent Schools. Currently, Jernberg's primary role is to guide the school through its recently announced master plan [1], with the purpose of revolutionizing the campus and the community.
In December of 2006, Dr. Pat Taylor was named headmaster. Dr. Taylor came to JA from Mobile, AL, where he served as Assistant Headmaster at St. Paul's Episcopal School.
Keith Branning is the Senior High Dean and Associate Headmaster Bill Bunch is the Associate Senior High Dean. Bobby West, a successful high school basketball coach in the 1980's, is the Junior High Dean and Athletic Director. Sarah Love is Dean of the Elementary School. Lynett Robinson serves as the Dean of the Preschool.
According to the school's website, the overall master plan has been divided into two phases, and will cost an estimated $17.5M:
Phase One includes the following: a performing arts center for school programs, theatrical productions and concerts as well as classroom and rehearsal space for choral music and a black-box theater; a student commons with dining facilities; student lounges and meeting spaces accessible to all grades; an enclosed atrium connecting the student commons to the performing arts center; an academic lawn along Ridgewood Road made possible by moving parking and traffic circulation behind the buildings; a new parking lot creating 150 additional spaces as well as improved traffic flow with a quarter mile of queuing space for cars on campus and off public roads; and a new 2,000 seat gymnasium adjacent to the secondary school gym.
Phase Two will include replacement of long-serving facilities with a new, state-of-the-art junior/senior high building to serve grades 7-12; and a new, expanded elementary building.
[edit] Athletics
Jackson Academy excels in athletics. The football team recently won three consecutive MPSA championships. Jackson Academy regularly wins or contends for championships in boys basketball, girls basketball, tennis, track, and baseball.
[edit] State championships
[edit] Football
- 1995
- 1996
- 2001
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
[edit] Baseball
- 1985
- 1986
- 1992
- 1999
- 2002
[edit] Men's basketball
- 1994
- 1995
- 2004
- 2006
[edit] Women's basketball
- 1984
- 1992
- 1996
- 2001
- 2002
[edit] JA athletics on the radio
Jackson Academy is one of a few high schools, independent or public, to have all of its football, boys basketball, girls basketball, and baseball games broadcast via radio [2] in the Jackson, Mississippi area. Bryan Eubank has been the voice of the Raiders in some capacity since 2000, and has called the capture of 9 MPSA State Championships. Bryan spent 2005-2007 as the voice of the Mississippi Braves before returning to call all three major sports for the Raiders in the fall of 2007.
Warren Strain, Doug Colson, Brad Daniels, Josh West, Travis Gordon, Jay White, Trevor Gross, Eddie Wettach and Ben Ingram are among others who have gone "one the air" for JA in the past.
[edit] Images
Images is a publication of fiction, nonfiction, poems and art by Jackson Academy students. The publication has won the Gold Crown, the highest award bestowed by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association; no other high school publication in the state of Mississippi has received this award. Images also has won the Highest Award by the National Council of Teachers of English.
