Arendell Parrot Academy

By 1964, Mr. Parrott, his wife Lillian, and several other citizens committed to fostering the highest standards of education joined together to establish Arendell Parrott Academy. The school was named for Mr. and Mrs. Parrott's deceased son, Marion Arendell Parrott, Jr.  With Mr. Parrott as its first president, the newly chartered Board of Trustees entrusted the school's initial leadership to E. Ray Wooten, its first headmaster.Classes began in September of 1965 in temporary sites. Later that same year, the donation of 55+ acres by Mr. and Mrs. John Mewborne made possible the construction of a permanent campus which has continued to grow and develop. The student body, which originally encompassed grades 1 through 8, continued to grow with the addition of a kindergarten in 1968 and a high school which graduated its first seniors in 1971.

Marking a major step in institutional development, the Mothers' Committee was established in 1969. This group of talented and dedicated women has functioned as the Academy's most important ongoing generator of funds for instructional support. With funds raised in the past five years, the Mothers' Committee has been able to underwrite planning expenses for new construction and the purchase of computers to enhance the use of technology in every classroom. The committee has also enabled the school to purchase an activity bus.

From two colonnaded elementary classroom buildings, Mewborne and Whitaker Halls which were completed in 1966, campus facilities have grown to include six instructional buildings, seven athletic facilities, and one activity center. The Edwards-Hobgood Memorial Building, now housing primarily administrative offices, a media center, and the cafeteria, and the Perry Memorial Science Building, now home to A.P.A.'s middle school, were the first additions. These facilities were deemed ample to support the 459 students who enrolled in the fall of 1970. In 1974-75, the school grew to 536 students drawn from six counties. By the early 1980's with increasingly large kindergarten enrollments, the Board committed funds to constructing the Wooten Kindergarten Building, which was later expanded to house a Transition class in the Poole Annex. Though high school enrollment reached its lowest ebb in the late 1980's, the Board of Trustees in 1991 had sufficient faith and vision to embark on an ambitious ten-year development campaign. Known as "Parrott 2000," this campaign successfully raised in excess of $2,500,000. Its first priority was construction of the Hill High School Building, completed in the spring of 1993. In 1995, with a total enrollment of 571 students, the Board began construction of the Monk-Austin Student Activity Center, a versatile building used for sports, assemblies, and performances. As high school enrollment continued to grow, the Board moved to build an addition onto the Hill Building, which was completed in the fall of 1997. Today, these instructional facilities serve over 680 students.

The school's athletic program, which initially used borrowed public facilities for football and basketball competition, has progressed to include 25 teams and an array of quality facilities. The first athletic space constructed on campus was the Ellis Simon Gymnasium, completed in 1971, which still houses the basketball and volleyball programs. Hodges Football Field and Grant Baseball Field were constructed in the 1980's, with the adjacent Dumas Field for soccer added in the early 1990's. A complex of four tennis courts was created in the late 1970's. During the 2000-2001 academic year, the new Maddux Baseball Field was built, and Grant Field was renovated to become part of the Roberts Softball Complex.

The growth of technology infrastructure has brought a new dimension of campus development. In the late 1980's the first computer lab was established in the Perry Building, offering Apple IIE's and IIC's for students to learn and to work on. With the completion of the Hill High School Building, an additional, more up-to-date lab was available for students in grades 9 through 12. With key financial support from the Mothers' Committee, a local area network was installed in 1998, and every classroom was equipped with a computer. This has allowed swift Internet access for teachers and students, and the establishment of a school webpage has enhanced communication of school activities, homework assignments, and even class notes for students and their parents. Currently, the Academy contains computer workstations in the media center, two full computer labs with PC platforms, and a self-contained elementary science lab with iMacs. Its campuswide computer-to-student ratio is 1:6.

The progress of Arendell Parrott Academy can be seen not only in the growth of its physical facilities but also in the increasing breadth and depth of its academic programs. Initial accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools was granted in 1992. This validated the institution's academic strengths and spurred important growth in the classroom. The faculty has grown to include 54 full-time and 3 part-time teachers in 2001. The number of graduating seniors designated as North Carolina Scholars has also expanded as more students have been encouraged to take four years of academically rigorous classes. From the three Advanced Placement courses initially offered in 1993, the number of A.P. courses has grown to nine. In 1997, 46 students took 80 A.P. exams, while in 2001, 66 students took 118 A.P. exams. This commitment to challenging students intellectually has resulted in steadily rising SAT scores for students at every GPA level.

No area of the Academy's instructional program has shown more dynamic growth than the fine arts. From an initial part-time art teacher and full-time chorus teacher in the early 1980's, the fine arts department has grown to consist of two full-time music teachers and two full-time art teachers. Beginning in the late 1980's, visual arts instruction was offered to students at every grade level, and Advanced Placement instruction in drawing and general art have been offered since 1996. Initiated in 1991, the school's string orchestra program has been the fastest growing component of the curriculum, now serving over 120 students. All lower school students through fourth grade receive general music instruction, and chorus instruction for middle school and high school students is available. Although no formal class in drama currently exists, middle and high school students have progressed from staging annual variety shows to performing Broadway musicals.

Equally important has been a growing commitment to developing students' sense of community responsibility. Begun in 1996 with 42 charter members, the Academy's SERV Society has sponsored local outreach, mission trips to other states and foreign countries, and campus volunteerism. In the 2001 academic year, Presidential Service Awards were given to 27 high school students, each of whom had volunteered over 100 hours of service in the calendar year. Following the example set by SERV members, students in the lower and middle schools have also joined together in various community service projects.

The late 1990's have also seen the school's increasing commitment to health and safety issues. In addition to hiring a school nurse and a certified health educator, the administration has updated emergency preparedness plans and developed a crisis management plan with telephone access from each classroom to allow immediate communication in emergency situations. Drug awareness education for fifth graders, a sexual abstinence workshop for middle schoolers, and a host of SADD and FCA chapter activities among high schoolers foster students' abilities to make life-affirming decisions.