About Us...
Flora Macdonald Academy is an independent,
college preparatory, coeducational day school for grades PK - 12, serving Red
Springs, Raeford, Fayetteville, Laurinburg, Pembroke, St. Pauls, Maxton, and
surrounding areas. The school provides a values-based college preparatory
education in a small, safe, and nurturing environment.
The size of the student body allows for diversity
without sacrificing a concerned and caring atmosphere. Every child is known by
"name and by need."
All of our students have opportunities for success in
small classes, where they are actively involved and where there is a meaningful
student-faculty rapport. Parents, community, staff, and students work
collaboratively to meet high expectations in a curriculum which stimulates
ethical, physical, creative, and social development and opportunity to begin
lifelong learning.
The campus exudes a sense of history. Located in
historic Red Springs on the campus which was originally Flora Macdonald College,
its extensive gardens and grounds surround a building on the
National Historic Registory.
The past inspires the future, defined by students, ages
four to seventeen, who come here looking for a history of their own.
Accredited by the
Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools
History
A movement in North Carolina for the higher education
of women led to the founding of Flora Macdonald College in 1896. The
Fayetteville Presbytery decided to establish a seminary for girls somewhere in
the area. Red Springs came forward with the promise of $2500, four acres of
land, and forty students, if the school should be located there. The offer was
immediately accepted. Red Springs was also chosen because, in addition to the
fact that it was a center of religious and social activity and abounded in the
health giving mineral springs which gave the town its name, it was largely
populated with the Scottish Highlanders to whom education and religion were
life's most important requisites.
When Dr. Charles Vardell was asked to take charge as president of the proposed
school, there was very little money for the new project. He came, a young and
inexperienced man, to look the situation over. As he stood at the edge of the
swamp, he saw two visions and dreamed two dreams. He said, "Here is a place for
a garden, the like of which cannot be found, and here is a place for a girls'
school, the need for which is unequaled."
Always a man of quick decisions, he went to work with characteristic energy,
putting his heart, mind and body into the task to which he now dedicated his
life. With the meager resources at his command, he worked as one inspired, with
the result that September 30, 1896, Red Springs Seminary opened in a small
wooden building with ninety students and a faculty of six cultured educators.
Along with Dr. Vardell came his talented wife, the former Linda Lee Rumple, an
honor graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, and universally
conceded to be the foremost musician in the Carolinas. To her goes the credit of
founding the Conservatory of Music, which she modeled along the lines of her
then famous Alma Mater in Boston. In the meantime, the influence of the college
was felt throughout the South to such an extent that the name was changed in
1903 to Southern Presbyterian College and Conservatory of Music.
These two dedicated educators worked side by side for thirty-four years and the
college continued to gain prestige and recognition. The original building had
long be replaced by a lovely brick building on the campus.
Along with its high scholastic standards, Flora Macdonald College, as it was
renamed in 1916, held fast to its traditions and to the individuality and spirit
which combined to make it the distinctive small college of the Carolinas. The
"different" atmosphere of the campus was recognized and felt by even the most
casual visitor. Its Scottish background was evident in authentic relics, which
include many of the prized possessions of the famous Scotswoman whose name it
bore, as well as some personal possessions of the "Bonnie Prince."
The students were taught the traditional folk dances of Scotland, and in their
pretty Highland costumes were constantly in demand for programs which were
highlighted by the spirited Highland Fling, taught each new class.
The college continued to grow and flourish, and in 1950, the Conservatory of
Music was accepted into the National Association of Schools of Music, and early
in 1951, the college itself was received into full membership of the Southern
Association of Schools and Colleges. It was the only four-year, fully accredited
liberal arts church school in Southeast North Carolina and the only Scottish
American college in the United States.
During its creation and growth, Flora Macdonald was under the ownership and
control of Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Orange Presbyteries. In 1952, the Synod
of NC, who now controlled Flora Macdonald College, began a study into
reorganizing and merging two junior colleges and Flora Macdonald and setting the
location at Laurinburg. The merger took place in 1961, and Flora Macdonald
College and Conservatory of Music existed no more.
In September of 1964, the doors of Vardell Hall opened on the former campus of
Flora Macdonald College. Vardell Hall was a girls preparatory school and junior
college. It stayed in operation for ten years and holds many wonderful memories
for all the students that were there. As their Alma Mater clearly states, "Proud
of our heritage, we face now the future--our lives blessed by the training
received on her campus--We stand now united to honor her name--As molders of
patterns and aims that shall last." These words honor not only Vardell Hall but
Dr. Charles Vardell and Flora Macdonald College for the vision which was created
and realized 100 years ago.
Robeson Country Day School, formerly housed in Lumber Bridge, moved into the
building in 1973. In 1980, the Corporation, parents of Robeson Country Day
students, voted to change the name to Flora Macdonald Academy, the name the
school has today. In the early spring of 1984,when a killer tornado hit the town
of Red Springs, Flora Macdonald Academy did not escape. Thousands of dollars of
damage was done to the building. The building was unusable for months, and
classes were held in two churches in town. Extensive renovations were done to
the building after the tornado and finally in the spring of 1985, a year after
the devastation, classes were resumed in the building.
Flora Macdonald Academy carries on many of the traditions of the old Flora
Macdonald College. One of these is the annual May Day celebration held the first
Saturday in May. Stemming from Roman celebrations of the coming of spring and
borrowing traditions from the English holiday, the college and now the academy
celebrates May Day. English customs are combined with Scottish music and dance,
acknowledging the Scottish heritage of the school. The May Queen and her court
process from the beautiful gardens to the front portico where they are
entertained by the day's festivities. The traditional May Pole Dance, Sword
dance and bagpipes are a part of these festivities. Along with many others, this
time honored tradition has become an integral part of life at Flora Macdonald
Academy.
Information taken from Flora
Macdonald--Celebrating 100 Years of Education
Future Goals
Flora Macdonald Academy is currently in the process of
implementing an AP program for gifted students. We are also in the process
of updating our Wireless Networking so we can be a TRULY Wireless Campus.
We hope to soon be a complete 1 to 1 computing school. Beginning in July
of 2007 we will be starting a Pee Wee football program and hope to be able to
grow that into a full high school football program in the not too distant
future.
Flora Macdonald Academy
200 South College Street
Red Springs, North Carolina 28377
(910) 843-4995.
Contact us for more info
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