Admiral Farragut Academy

Admiral Farragut Academy
Location
501 Park St. N. St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
Information
Type	College preparatory school / Military academy
Motto	Success is Never Accidental
Established	1933
Founder	Admiral Samuel Robison
Headmaster	Robert J. Fine, Jr.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees	George J. Michel, Jr. '49S
Director of Naval Science	Captain Thomas L. McClelland, USN (Ret.)
Chaplain	Rev. Larry Upham, LtCol., USAF Aux.
Faculty	approx. 100
Grades	PK - 12
Number of students	approx. 450
Campus	35 acres (140,000 m2)
Color(s)	Blue and Gold
Mascot	Bluejacket
Accreditation(s)	FCIS, SACS
Newspaper	The Cadet Gazette
Yearbook	The Buccaneer
Upper Division Head	L. Shannon Graves
Middle Division Head	Jennifer Vernine
Lower Division Head	Anita Fine
Website	Admiral Farragut Academy

Admiral Farragut Academy is a college preparatory school with Naval training founded in 1933 in Pine Beach, New Jersey by, among others, Admiral Samuel Robison, one-time President of RCA, and former Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It is named after Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, the senior officer of the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War.

History

St. Petersburg campus

In 1945, the current campus opened in St. Petersburg, Florida, occupying the Jungle Country Club Hotel, a historic landmark in the Tampa Bay area, constructed in 1925. In 1946, Admiral Farragut Academy was designated a "Naval Honor School" by Act of Congress, making it the first such secondary school in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

The original campus in Pine Beach, NJ closed in 1994 and most buildings were demolished in 2003. As of 2008, the infirmary is the only building on the original Pine Beach campus that is still standing.

In the early 1990s, the previously all-boys Academy began accepting female students for the first time.

Famous alumni

The Academy is perhaps most notable for graduating two of the twelve men who walked on the Moon:

• Rear Admiral Alan Shepard USN was the first American in space and in 1971 became the fifth person to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission. Shepard graduated in 1941 from the New Jersey campus.
• Brigadier general Charles Duke, USAF, was a 1953 graduate of the St. Petersburg campus, and in 1972 became the tenth person to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 16 mission. In the spring of 2006, NASA presented a moon rock to General Duke, who then donated it to the school. It is displayed in a showcase in front of the Quarter-Deck at the entrance to the main building, Farragut Hall.

• William Colepaugh, who defected to the Nazis in World War II, and who, later, was one of the last Nazi spies reaching the US.

• Richard Marcinko, author and former commanding officer of US Navy SEAL Team 2, is a graduate of Admiral Farragut Academy. Marcinko went on to become the first commanding officer of US Navy SEAL Team Six, a special maritime counter-terror unit.

• Martial artist and reality television star Lorenzo Lamas graduated in 1975 from the New Jersey campus.

• Actor Casper Robert Van Dien graduated as third in command at Admiral Farragut Academy.

The NJROTC Program

An integral part of an education at Admiral Farragut Academy is the required involvement in NJROTC. Every student in the Upper Division takes three years of Naval Science, an in-depth study of the history, operation and core concepts of the United States Navy. The entire Upper Division student body makes up a student-run NJROTC Battalion.

Accreditation

Admiral Farragut Academy is accredited by:

• The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
• The Florida Council of Independent Schools

Student body

There are approximately 200 students in the upper division, with a 5:1 ratio of boys to girls. Approximately 25% of the students are boarders.

External links

• Admiral Farragut Academy
• Official Facebook Page
• A Farragut North alumnus' page of photos