French Camp Academy, located in French Camp, MS, is a 7th through 12th grade private academy, with boarding students from around the country, as well as day students from the local community.
The school was founded in 1885 by a group of Presbyterian missionaries who started a school for girls called the Mississippi Institute for Girls. Due to its success, a boys school was started the next year called French Camp Academy. The girls school was destroyed by fire in 1915, then combined with the boys under the name of French Camp Academy.
According to FCA President, Stewart Edwards, the French Camp Academy experience is about much more than school work. Edwards said, “We are trying to build relationships with young people and their families, to either introduce them to the Lord or encourage and grow their relationship with the Lord.” He added that even though education is important it’s not the most important thing.
Edwards added, “We want young people to know the Lord and know that He cares for them and that they are valuable, because He has made them and they are loved.”
Edwards believes that education is a lifelong event and FCA strives to offer its students a well-rounded resume of experiences. At the end of the school day, at 3 p.m. the boarding students prepare for their work detail in one of many different areas including graphic design, photography, the horse program, the cafeteria, or at one of the support ministries which include WFCA radio, the Council House Cafe, the Rainwater Planetarium, and the Natchez Trace Historical Area.
Not only does work in these areas offer students basic work and life skills, but the proceeds from these businesses help to support the school which is important as some students cannot afford tuition, and all students receive some type of support.
The school has a maximum of 340 students, and currently has about 280 enrolled which includes boarding and day students. Edwards said that the student body is widely diverse both socioeconomically and geographically with students from Mississippi and the Southeast and as far away as Wyoming, California and Alaska, and there have been some international students, as well.
Edwards was especially excited about a recently-added life coaching program in whichjuniors are paired with trained staff members who act as mentors and advisors, and follow that student’s progress into college or the workforce, proving that the French Camp Academy experience is truly about building relationships.
