Admiral Farragut Academy

Admiral Farragut Academy
Address
501 Park Street North St. Petersburg , (Pinellas) , Florida 33710 United States
Information
School type	Private, College Preparatory boarding school, day school, and Military Academy (Honor Naval School)
Motto	Success is Never Accidental
Established	1933 (1933)
Headmaster	Robert J. Fine, Jr.
Faculty	approx. 100
Grades	Lower school: Kindergarten–7 Upper school: 8–12 Boarding school: 8–12
Gender	Coeducational
Number of students	approx. 500
Student to teacher ratio	17∶1
Campus	35 acres (140,000 m2)
Color(s)	Blue   Yellow
Mascot	BlueJacket
Last updated: February 16, 2019 (2019-02-16)

Admiral Farragut Academy, established in 1933, is a private, college-prep school serving students in grades K-12. Farragut is located in St. Petersburg, Florida in Pinellas County and is surrounded by the communities of Treasure Island, Gulfport, Pasadena, Tierra Verde, and Seminole. Farragut also serves North Pinellas County, which includes the communities of Clearwater, Belleair, and Palm Harbor.

History

Founded in 1933 on the banks of the Toms River in Pine Beach, New Jersey, Admiral Farragut Academy was a college prep military style school named after Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, the first American naval officer to rise to that rank. Over Farragut's first 12 years, the school became so popular that a second campus was purchased in 1945 on the shores of Boca Ciega Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida. Since then, the school has undergone many changes, such as accepting day students, becoming co-ed, and adding an elementary school.

The school's New Jersey campus in Pine Beach closed at the end of the 1994 school year due to financial difficulties.

Notable alumni

See also: Category:Admiral Farragut Academy alumni

Two of the 12 men who walked on the Moon graduated from Admiral Farragut:

• 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.

Other famous alumni:

• William Colepaugh, who defected to the Nazis during World War II, and returned to spy for Germany in the United States.
• Actor Lorenzo Lamas graduated in 1975 from the New Jersey Campus.
• Actor Casper Van Dien graduated from the St. Petersburg, FL campus and later performed in many films of which Starship Troopers is the most notable.
• Chef Spike Mendelsohn, class of 2000, contested on both Top Chef and Top Chef: All Stars. Spike is the owner of "Good Stuff Eatery," a restaurant with locations on Capitol Hill and in Georgetown in The District of Columbia, as well as in the Crystal City business neighborhood of Northern Virginia.
• Major Megan McClung, the first female United States Marine Corps officer killed in combat during the Iraq War
• Animator/Producer Andy Luckey attended from 1980-'81 at St. Petersburg but transferred before graduation.
• Lieutenant General Sidney "Tom" Weinstein, ‘52N, was the Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence during the 1980s. He is recognized as the principal architect of the modern military intelligence corps, and was the crucial player in its expansion and professionalization.
• Richard W. Fisher '67N, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas since 2005
• William N. Small, New Jersey campus; United States Navy Admiral, former Vice Chief of Naval Operations
• Stephen Stills attended as child, before he left for Woodrow Wilson Junior High in nearby Tampa.
• Tom Thompson '68S, NCAA Football record holder.
• Paul F. Gleason, served as Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts 2017 through 2019.
• Robert A. Jensen, a 1983 graduate is an American writer and crisis management expert.

The NJROTC Program

An integral part of an education at Admiral Farragut Academy is the required involvement in NJROTC. Every student in the Upper School (grades 8-12) 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 School student body makes up a student-run NJROTC Regiment.

Student body

There are approximately 500 students in K-12th grade with a 3:1 ratio of boys to girls. There are 330 students in the Upper School and approximately 50% of the Upper School students are boarding students.