The First 100 Years: The History of Montverde Academy Through The Decades

THE FIRST 100 YEARS
The History of
Montverde Academy
through the Decades

Walter Harper, the first graduate of the Montverde Industrial School.
Reuben Wyatt Harper was born June 30, 1863 in Belmont, Alabama. He received
private tutoring and attended Belmont Academy. In 1885 he came to Montverde
where he entered the citrus business. About 1910, he and two partners formed
the R.W. Harper Company, a fruit brokerage company with its own groves and
packinghouse. In 1912, he was also one of the founders of the Montverde
Industrial School. Mr. Harper was the father of the first graduate, Walter Harper
(above) in 1915.
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Table of Contents
1912-1919: The Conception of The Montverde Industrial School......................... 7
1920s: Success from Surviving........................................................................... 19
1930s: Growth during Depression Years............................................................. 33
1940s: Times of Progress and Adjustments........................................................ 47
1950s: Growing with America.............................................................................. 61
1960s: Seeking Stability in an Ever Changing America...................................... 75
1970s: New Leadership, New Visions................................................................. 99
1980s: Reconnecting with Montverde Academy’s Core Values................................... 125
1990s Alterations and Growth........................................................................... 147
2000s: Progress and Prosperity for a New Millennium......................................... 171
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Dr. Kasey C. Kesselring, Headmaster 1999 - present.
Introduction by Headmaster
Dr. Kasey C. Kesselring
Few institutions across the nation are privileged to sustain the impact of their work for 100 years and so it
is a remarkable and truly celebrated moment to look back over the history of Montverde Academy and
reacquaint ourselves with the substance that has contributed to who we are today. I have had the privilege
of leading Montverde Academy during a time when we transitioned into a new century and now to a time
when we can celebrate the accomplishments that accompany a centennial anniversary.
During the past 13 years since I was appointed the ninth Headmaster of Montverde Academy, we have
experienced an unprecedented period of growth to our physical plant, faculty and student body. Once a
predominantly small boarding school nestled quietly and unassumingly in the green hills between Lake
Florence and Lake Apopka, Montverde Academy has now positioned itself among the most accomplished
boarding and day schools in the southeast with a campus infrastructure and quality faculty and curriculum
to compete among the nations most competitive independent schools. Quite unique, however, is the
composition of our school that currently serves students from 47 different countries; representing an
unparalleled diversity that provides an education that incorporates an understanding and appreciation
for cultures throughout the world—a truly global experience. I have been privileged to receive a number
of accolades as a result of our contribution to the community in which we live and the positive impact we
continue to have on the young people under our care. As this year’s recipient of the Boy Scouts of America
Golden Eagle honoree and the League of Cities outstanding leadership award, I am humbled that the
good work of this institution has gained the attention of those around us. However, a great historian once
said “Do not applaud me. It is not I who speaks to you, but history which speaks through my mouth.” It
is not I who deserves the accolades; rather the collective strength, fortitude, and perseverance of those
before me who carried out the mission of this school through decades of hardships, world wars, and the
Great Depression who deserve the acknowledgement for providing the strong and well nurtured roots that
have cemented the work of this institution in a manner which has enabled us to propel through similar
challenging times.
Robert Penn Warren wrote, “History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller
understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.” Over
the past year and a half, we have been preparing a historical book that chronicles the history of Montverde
as we celebrate our centennial anniversary. The process of researching our past has served as a passionate
reminder that our mission to be a college preparatory school that increases student knowledge, develops
cognitive skills, and builds character in a nurturing, diverse, and disciplined community is a living mission
that continues to meet the needs of an ever changing global community.
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Foreward
Artist: Hari Jang class of 2005.
Montverde Academy is a college preparatory school that inspires students to become knowledgeable
leaders with global vision, instills a passion for learning, and nurtures character development in a
disciplined and diverse community. - Mission statement, Montverde Academy
The word history comes from the Greek word historia which in translation means inquiry or knowledge
acquired by investigation. Originally used by Herodotus to chronicle his travels through the ancient
world, the word history often serves to record significant events for the purpose of reflection, inquiry and
knowledge. And so, it continues to be appropriate for us to acknowledge our history, to examine it and
learn from it as we work to strengthen the presence of our mission in our daily work.
Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of
preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever
shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results (Machiavelli). It
is not by happenstance that our school has stood the test of time for 100 years. It is quite true and evident
in looking at our history that the leaders before me shared a similar passion for our purpose and our
mission. The dedication and commitment required to lead a boarding and day school constitutes its own
unique lifestyle and an understanding that in order to truly effect the educational direction of young people
means a substantive dedication to providing a culture of learning that promotes academic scholarship, selfdiscipline,
and an understanding that our lives are most often defined not by what we receive but by what
we give—giving to our local communities, giving to those less fortunate, and a commitment to community
service. These distinguishing qualities separates a purely academic education from one that incorporates
character building in a society that often measures success with wealth—a limited and confined definition
that without the understanding of how to use it effectively to change the world around us for good leaves
behind a unfulfilled obligation to pay it forward for those who will come after us.
Independent schools by nature are communities of educators and parents rooted in giving—
of opportunities, leadership, achievement, resources, and character…to provide for our young people
the future opportunity to do the same for others. As history often repeats itself—it is that passion that
repeats itself, the strong and deep roots of an institution that for a century has produced young people
who understand the finer points of learning, who put into practice the strength of their character and live
the diversity that they have learned here in the world around them to become distinguished leaders and
citizens of their respective communities and perpetual examples of our mission living in the world.
-Dr. Kasey C. Kesselring, Headmaster
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Right: Early
farming on
campus.
Below: A class in
domestic art.
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The Montverde Industrial School on the green hills
of Lake County was originally established in this
small two room building.
1912-1919
The Conception of The Montverde Industrial School
What we now know as the Montverde Academy originally
began as the conceptual vision of Boyle County, Kentucky
native Dr. Henry P. Carpenter. Dr. Carpenter felt too many students
were being denied access to a private school education as a result
of socioeconomic conditions. Carpenter decided to fill this void by travelling to Florida and creating a
school where students would partake in both physical and academic labor as a school curriculum. He
then established a non-profit group that in turn created a board of officials to oversee the development of
various stocks to be sold in order to the create The Montverde Industrial School (MIS).
Below: The Montverde Industrial School
baseball team in the early 1900s.
Montverde Academy 1912-1919 7

Right: An original sketch
of the boys dormitory.
The school began as a Christian-based industrial school for students of all denominations and operated on
the outskirts of the current Montverde Academy campus. The school was comprised of a diminutive two
room building and church. The MIS was launched in hopes of attracting both boys and girls, regardless
of family incomes, who were of “sound bodies and good minds” to be educated in the Christian tradition
before graduating and beginning their adult lives.
Above: The 1919 girls
basketball team on
the court.
8
Below left: The team at play.

Soon after Dr. H.P. Carpenter came to Central Florida, he located a piece of land in the village of
Montverde he often described as “a virgin forest.” He so loved the location that he decided to construct
the Montverde Industrial School on acres of land he discovered surrounding Lake Apopka and Lake
Florence. Carpenter envisioned that rows of orange groves and grape vineyards would line the campus.
The Montverde Industrial School paid $10.50 in taxes for ten plots of land surrounding the campus. In
actuality, the purchased land was nearly 13 acres. No sale price was ever listed.
Girls 1915 basketball team. Montverde Academy 1912-1919 9

In these beginning years,
Dr. Carpenter served
as Head of the School,
while his wife served as
Lady Principal. Initially,
MIS had approximately
20 faculty and staff
members and nearly 200
students. The Montverde
Industrial School
opened on September 23,
1912, primarily to serve
Above: Students participate in tennis.
students of high school age, although a few students were educated in the traditional concept of grade
school studies. Throughout the years of 1913 and 1914, the Administration Building was erected and
the industrial-based school began functioning as an institution of learning for many students of limited
means. Tuition was $132 a year per student. Eventually as students from more affluent families attended
the school, the Montverde Industrial School developed a reputation for its rigorous academic and athletic
programming.
10
Above: The 1919 boys basketball team.

Left: Pictures of the buildings
and grounds as found in the
1919 school catalog.
Above: Students pose outside with the
Montverde Industrial School banner.
Left: The 1913-1914 Montverde Industrial
School catalog.
Montverde Academy 1912-1919 11

Dr. H.P. Carpenter,
President 1912-1944, 1945-1947
“This school was launched in
the interest of the worthy poor
of our country for the purpose
of sending out Christian men
and women with a thorough
education combining mental,
moral and industrial training.
The institution believes that the
best way to help the youth of
our country is to help them help
themselves.”- Dr. H.P. Carpenter
Above: Dr. H.P. Carpenter. Right: Montverde Industrial School catalog from 1916-1917.
Students were required to earn half of their tuition by
working for the betterment of the school and community.
During these beginning years, the United States found
itself drawn into the Great War (WWI) and Americans
were working extremely hard to survive as their country
tried to avoid further involvement in the turmoil of this
originally European conflict. At the Montverde Industrial
School, boys were required to work in the fields farming
12

Above: Music students outside of Odell Hall.
Right: Montverde Industrial School catalog from 1917-1918.
potatoes, corn, and beans or assist in the school maintenance
shop repairing the infrastructure of the school and campus
buildings. Girls were also expected to work in the make-shift
kitchens preparing food for daily meals, or in the living room
making curtains, clothes, or rugs. Both boys and girls labored
at a nearby steam cannery canning vegetables, fruit, and
meats enriched from the school’s area farms.
Montverde Academy 1912-1919 13

FOREWORD
“Montverde Industrial school extends a helping hand
to worthy boys and girls of limited means who seek
a higher plane of life and usefulness. The first cost of
board and tuition is very low, but even half this cost
may be met by services rendered.
This school does not seek to pauperize or teach
dependence, but does endeavor to help those who
have a disposition to help themselves.
Bear in mind that this institution is not a reformatory.
None but industrious boys and girls with a purpose
need apply.
A thorough reading of this announcement will make
plain our policy and proposed lines of action.”
Above: As stated in the 1919 catalog: A pioneer school of country life in Florida.
Right: Catalog for 1914-1915.
Below: Students outside of their dormitory.
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Above: Farm activities from the 1900s.
Left: Students help construct the first dormitory building.
Female students circa 1915.
Montverde Academy 1912-1919 15

ODELL HALL
“This handsome three-story building is named in
honor of the late Miss Elizabeth Odell formerly of New
York state, who made the largest contribution towards
its erection. Its location is ideal and its appointments
are pleasing throughout. The building occupies a
large shady site high above Lake Florence and is only
a short distant from the Recitation Hall, and other
classroom buildings.
On the first floor, may be found front and back
porches, a large reception room with open
fireplace, corridors, matron’s office, and living
rooms, guest rooms, domestic science kitchen,
lavatories and bath. Second and third floors
have large, airy living rooms with abundance
of light. Each room is an outside room with
ample windows, commodious wardrobe and
door opening into a large, well lighted hall.”
- As printed in the 1919 Montverde Industrial School catalog.
Left: Miss Elizabeth Odell.
Below: Odell Hall.
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Above top: Montverde Industrial School campus. Above: Students dine outside the Martha Bedell Dining Hall.
Montverde Academy 1912-1919 17

Left: The Martha Bedell Dining Hall painted white.
Below: The dining hall with original brick.
Below: A class
in domestic art
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1920s
The Montverde School on the green hills of lake
county was originally established in this small two
room building.
Success from Surviving
Left: Interlachen was the name of the first
yearbook. It first came out in 1925 with
approximately 100 pages.
By 1918, the Great War was over, but the war’s impact on U.S. economic business was substantial. In
most cases, American prices on goods and agricultural exports rose. In turn, American farmers
prospered, as did the cannery on campus. Through the early 1920s, the Montverde Industrial School
curriculum was stringent and continued to emphasize agribusiness as students were expected to study
literature, history, math, and various sciences as they labored in nearby fields. A passing grade of 70
percent was required by all students. Those students who attained a 90 percent average grade throughout
the year were exempt from their final exams.
Part of the members of the Christian Endeavor Societies.
Montverde Academy 1920s 19

Extra-curricular activities
were also part of the MIS
academic experience.
The Athenian and
Philomathean Societies,
both of Greek reference,
(Athenian in reference to
Athenian democracy, and
Philos inferring a “love
of ”) were prominent
literary societies in
the early years of the
Montverde Industrial
School. These two
societies often performed The basketball team of 1925.
traditional works of literature and theatre for each other. Poetry readings and literary plays were also
presented as these groups competed against each other in academic and athletic competitions.
Early Montverde Industrial School baseball team.
20

By 1921, the two societies had generated a fierce rivalry to determine who would be granted the privilege
of hanging their society pennant on school grounds as a symbol of supremacy over the other. Each year,
the groups would compete in an annual track meet to determine the victor who would win this right.
Above top: Philomathean with their banner and victory 1921-1922. Above: Athenian victors in 1927.
Montverde Academy 1920s 21

In 1922, the Industrial was dropped from the school’s name and it officially became known as The
Montverde School (TMS). During this period, the word industrial possessed negative connotations that
were often associated with the penitentiary system. The school wanted to establish itself as a progressive
academic institution instead of an improvement or reform school.
General view of the campus circa 1924.
Left: School boys building a silo. Right: The silo today.
Below: A sketch of the original chapel, which would
later become the Middle School.
In 1923, The Montverde School sold
its steam cannery operation to the
town of Montverde, Florida. The
cannery was the only commercial
canning enterprise in the region
and would continue to employ both
members of the town of Montverde
and The Montverde School.
Farmers and students worked at
the cannery and continued to store
surplus crops and meats there under
the new management structure.
22

Interlachen high school yearbook from 1927.
In 1925, Interlachen was the name assigned to the first yearbook. The aforementioned contained nearly
one hundred pages of narrative and photographs and for the first time offered a candid glimpse of the life
of a TMS student.
Also in this year, the Christian Endeavor Chapel opened. The chapel was originally known as the Carrie
F. Conrad Chapel in honor of the woman who made a $10,000 donation to its construction. Before the
dedication, Conrad insisted the name of Karl Lehmann be added to the chapel’s dedication in respect to
Mr. Lehmann who conceptualized the original idea for a chapel on campus.
Montverde Academy 1920s 23

The TMS athletic
teams of the early
1920s consisted of
basketball and track
and field teams. As
previously mentioned,
track meets consisted
of the Athenian
and Philomathean
societies competing
against each other for
the school banner/
pennant hanging
rights. By 1924, The
Boys 1925 relay team.
Montverde School soccer team was established with 18 players. Coaches McCauslin and Walker were
appointed instructors of the team that was led by student Captain Milton Butler. The team’s first
match was on October 9, 1924 against Winter Garden. Montverde won the match 5-1, and finished its
inaugural soccer season with a record of 5-4-1.
Girls basketball
team 1927.
24

Regular line of march for Sunday School.
The freshmen class of 1925.
Montverde Academy 1920s 25

Below: A class in domestic art
A graphic from the 1926 yearbook.
The Montverde School football team came into existence in 1926 under
Head Coach G.R. Carpenter and was named the Crackers. The team had 35
players initially that later increased to 43. The team’s first year record was
4-3-1. In following years, the team maintained a winning tradition with a
series of successful seasons, but neither membership in conferences nor
regional titles. An enrollment of nearly 200 students was maintained at the
school from 1925-1928.
The Montverde School Agricultural Club and their trophies.
26

Above: Stock judging team from 1923.
Left: Many of the trophies from the 1920s and 1930s
are displayed on shelves in the campus Development Office.
Montverde Academy 1920s 27

The Class of 1922
According to the Lake County newspaper, Dr. Carpenter and The Montverde School
Board of Directors made an important announcement in 1929. The school would no
longer be accepting students from the public school system in Lake County and would
begin operating strictly as a “private preparatory” school.
28

A 1925 map used to show future
development on campus.
Enrollment numbers increased to 350 students in the latter part of the
decade as the school added additional boarding students. In the later years of the
decade, TMS embarked on an endowment capital campaign with the intent of expanding its
campus infrastructure and improving maintenance, and building additional classrooms. The fund
was able to raise two hundred thousand dollars.
Montverde Academy 1920s 29

Below: A class
in domestic art
30
Above top: The Royal Scotch Highlanders Band, Roy D. Smith, Conductor. Above: The 1925 Music Club.

Above and right: Field day contests and water sports on Lake Florence, circa 1922.
Above: Industrial activities and partial view of the dining room as advertised in the 1923-1924 catalog.
Montverde Academy 1920s 31

Below: A class
in domestic art
The Montverde Outlook from June 1930.
32

1930s
Growth during Depression Years
Having dropped Industrial from its name, The Montverde School
began the new decade on September 23, 1930. Twenty seniors
prepared for graduation as the school established itself as a fully
accredited private school as the United States possessed the world’s third
largest population, had experienced the worst stock market crash in
Above: An invitation to the celebration of
The Montverde School’s 25th anniversary. American history, and was about to encounter the worldwide economic
devastation of the Great Depression. As a result of these impacting events,
enrollment declined in the early part of the decade and decreased to below two hundred students in grades
first through twelfth. Nonetheless, progress was occurring at The Montverde School. In October of 1930,
the AA (Athletic Association) was officially organized with a main mission of offering guidance and support
for the financial needs and emotional well-being of The Montverde School’s six athletic teams.
The graduating class of 1934.
Montverde Academy 1930s 33

According to the 1930 yearbook, the Auto-Mechanics Club also came into existence with 15 male members.
The goal of this organization was to teach young men the instruction necessary to repair and maintain
the status of well operating automobiles and help them acquire the technical skills needed for future
employment after they left school.
34
Above: A page from the 1930 yearbook.

In 1935, the senior class dedicated a memorial tower to
their remaining friends at The Montverde School. The
seven foot tower was made of stone and concrete with
a square marker in the center displaying the school’s
name. The tower’s peak was accented with a concrete
formation resembling a queen chess piece. The school’s
plan was to have the newly named Memorial Tower rest
along the side of the main road, Route 455, that led into
the campus.
Above: The memorial tower.
Right: The Machine Department.
Montverde Academy 1930s 35

Throughout the 1930s,
athletic programs also
flourished and The
Montverde School’s
basketball team had
developed into a skilled
and consistent winning
unit. In 1935, the team
finished their winning
season with a 10-2 record
and impressive wins over
Mount Dora, Eustis, and
annual rival Umatilla.
1931 boys basketball team.
A mid-1930s Montverde School baseball team.
36

A mid-1930s Montverde School girls basketball team.
A mid-1930s Montverde School tennis team.
Montverde Academy 1930s 37

Below: A class
in domestic art
Above and right: 1930s aerial
views of campus.
38

The Athenians outpaced the Philos in the school’s track meet contest to gain possession of the
coveted pennant. However, in the 1930s, football and soccer ended as sports at The Montverde
Top and above: Literary society pictures taken from the handmade 1935 yearbook.
School. The football team scheduled a season in 1930 with a record that indicates no wins or
losses, but due to declining interest, never played another game.
Montverde Academy 1930s 39

Excerpt from the 1931 book of senior memories.
According to the 1935 yearbook, many seniors expressed their ambitions through a section called “Senior
Prophecies” where some students stated a desire to own businesses while others yearned to become nurses
and travel to foreign countries.
40

Collage from the 1931 book of senior memories.
By the end of the 1930s, The Montverde School students were allowed acceptance into any college in the
south without having to take entrance examinations. As the challenging decade came to a close, the spirit
of progress and optimism was alive and well entering the further turbulent times of the 1940s.
Montverde Academy 1930s 41

Above: The 1935 list of senior
superlatives.
42
Eighth grade student report
card from 1936. Courses
included Arithmetic,
Citizenship, Science,
English, and Geography, to
name a few.

Full page student collage from the 1930 yearbook.
Montverde Academy 1930s 43

44
Top: Arnold Hall.
Above: Martha Bedell Dining Hall.
Right: Entrance to the MacKenzie Building.

Sophomore class of 1930.
Montverde Academy 1930s 45

46
A page from the 1941 yearbook.

1940s
Times of Progress and Adjustments
Major changes took place at The Montverde School in the decade
of the 1940s. As a society, the United States would soon be
entrenched in World War II and simultaneously trying to recover
from the Great Depression. The long-standing Montverde School
tradition of promoting the body, mind and heart for the development
Above: The cover of the 1948 yearbook.
of well-rounded students continued to endure even as The Montverde
School switched leadership four different times and athletic competition became a secondary focus to
the advancement of school academics. In 1944, school founder Dr. H.P. Carpenter became ill, and at the
start of the 1945 school year stepped down as president. Neal Smith, a 1922 graduate of The Montverde
School, took over leadership responsibilities as interim president. Smith served for only one year
(1945-46). Dr. Carpenter eventually recovered from his illness and returned to the school to serve one
more year as president (1946-47).
Official accreditation form from the 1941-1942 school year. Montverde Academy 1940s 47

Above: An aerial view of The Montverde School.
Right: Students enjoy lunch outdoors.
Dr. Carpenter eventually retired in 1947
after having served 33 years. He would
be missed, but forever honored as the
great visionary who conceived what
would eventual become Montverde
Academy. Dr. Carpenter was adept
at anticipating cultural instabilities
occurring throughout the nation and diligently worked to
develop and implement programming that reflected not only the acknowledgement of changing
times, but that of innovation, practicality, and optimism. After his resignation, Dr. Carpenter and his wife
moved to nearby Orlando, Florida, for the remainder of their lives. Karl Lehmann took over as President of
The Montverde School in 1947. Lehmann served for three years before retiring in 1950.
48

Faculty photo circa 1943.
The Montverde School,
along with the rest of the
country, had witnessed
the Japanese bombing
of Pearl Harbor, New
Deal politics, the death
of President Roosevelt,
the beginning of the
Truman Presidency,
and the culmination
of World War II. The
Montverde School was also maturing as a predominant academic institution. According to the 1947 local
newspaper, Montverde Breeze, The Montverde School reportedly possessed the “largest and best trained
faculty” in the region.
Pictures from the 1943 hand
made senior memories book.
Montverde Academy 1940s 49

50
Pages taken from the 1948
catalog describing the perks of
The Montverde School.

Montverde Academy 1940s 51

The school had endured
another world war, troubling
post-depression years, and
focused much time and energy
on expanding its faculty and
classes to reflect the current
cultural standards. Courses
were created and taught by
1948 high school band.
Conrad-Lehmann Christian Endeavor Chapel.
teachers hired to specialize in
public speaking, commercial
subjects, and vocal training.
By the late 1940s, attendance
was expanding and student
interest growing from outside
the Florida area.
Arnold Hall (for older boys).
52

Students from 56 Florida
towns, 12 American states
(including North Carolina,
Georgia, Michigan, and
Maryland), and three foreign
countries that included British
Guiana and the Dominican
Community Hall
(Oldest building
of school, for
younger boys).
Martha Bedell Dining Hall.
Odell Hall (for younger girls).
Republic, attended The Montverde
School. During this decade many
infrastructural changes took
place on campus. Five thousand
dollars worth of work and
maintenance was completed on
campus throughout the summer
of 1947. The McKenzie Open
Air Recitation Building was rebuilt
to include an expansion to
the atrium. The science lab was
removed from the second floor of
this building and relocated to a larger room on another floor. New showers were installed at Arnold Hall
and a new heating unit put in Carpenter Hall.
Montverde Academy 1940s 53

Above: A collage from the 1941 yearbook.
In 1941, The Montverde School’s boys basketball team compiled a record of 4-0 with wins over local rivals
Groveland (36-15) and Ocoee (8-5). In 1944, for reasons linked possibly to funding, The Montverde School
prohibited outside athletic competition. Instead, girls and boys basketball and baseball teams formed two
teams each that competed against each other throughout the school year.
54

Above: A hand-drawn graphic from the 1948
yearbook.
Left: The boys basketball team from 1948 with Mr.
McQuaig on the far right.
By the decade’s end, the spirit of athletic competition again resurfaced to become a vital part of the scholastic
experience of The Montverde School. In 1948, the school retuned to outside athletic competitions and,
under the direction of Coach Otis McQuaig, both the boys and girls basketball teams were re-established.
The baseball team
also re-formed in
1949. In this year,
The Montverde
School girls
basketball team
recorded its first
Above: The girls basketball team from 1948.
Left: A hand-drawn graphic from the 1948 yearbook.
victory with a 44-42 win over local rival Clermont High School. The boys basketball
team was victorious over Clermont 33-24.
Montverde Academy 1940s 55

Among the many
exciting things to
occur on campus in
the late 1940s was a
campus visit from then
U.S. Senator Claude
Pepper of Florida in
1948. The Senator’s
visit helped increase
the school’s outside
visibility as he publicly
expressed his delight
One of the two freshmen classes from 1948.
at the groundwork completed throughout the Montverde campus and complimented students for their
accomplishments in academics, woodshop labor, and farming.
56
One of the two freshmen classes from 1948.

Above: Boys and girls Glee Club.
In the months after the
senator’s visit, a group
was formed known as
Old and New Friends
of The Montverde
School. The alliance
contributed $25,000, an
extraordinary amount
of money for that era, to
establish support from
alumni and friends of
The Montverde School.
Cheerleaders from 1948.
The money would be used to establish a network of contributors to aid in the development of future
student scholarships.
Montverde Academy 1940s 57

President Lehman served from 1947-1949.
The year of 1949 celebrated the creation of The
Montverde School’s campus apiary, a school
facility that provided an exorbitant amount of
honey to both school and community retailers
by strategically employing the use and function
of beehives across campus. Many gallons of
honey were filled at The Montverde School
and established commercial-area ventures. In
light of the success of the school’s apiary, which
had opened in the latter part of the 1930s, the
school’s luncheon and soda counter was named
The Beehive.
Left: School President
Lehman’s message from the
1949 yearbook.
58

1949 senior superlatives. Montverde Academy 1940s 59

Below: A class
in domestic art
60
A student performing laundry chores as shown in the 1959 yearbook.

1950s
Growing with America
Dr. Hawkins
In the decade of the 1950s, home construction and manufacturing
was intensifying in response to the U.S. involvement in the Korean
War and the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. In 1950,
the school’s fourth president, Dr. D.P. Hawkins, was appointed to head
Aerial view of the west campus circa 1950.
The Montverde School. Dr. Hawkins arrived at TMS from previously serving as a professor of English
and head of the Department of Journalism at Shurtleff College in Illinois. Dr. Hawkins came from a
literary background and held three separate degrees in literature.
Montverde Academy 1950s 61

During the early part of the decade, new extracurricular
activities, clubs, and organizations were
formed on campus. Inspired by contemporary,
post-war WWII academic trends, the President’s
Council was formed on campus. This organization
had been formed to serve in an advisory capacity
to President Hawkins and conferred with him
frequently to address important campus issues
and concerns. In a gesture of student inclusion,
each class president was included as essential
components of the council’s membership.
62
Above: 1956 school clubs.

Above:The early 1950s Varsity Club.
In 1950, The Montverde School formed
its first-ever Fire Squad. This group of
fireman was comprised of six students all
from the Upper School. The Montverde
Fire Squad responded and participated
in battling many area fires in the town of
Montverde, Florida, or on campus. The
squad worked in collaboration with the
Montverde Fire Department on most
fire emergency calls and was equipped
with a fire truck, hose, ladders, and water
pump. The squad, along with the rest of
the student body, practiced fire and safety
awareness regularly by having monthly
mock fire drills both day and night.
The 1950 Montverde Fire Squad.
Montverde Academy 1950s 63

The start of the 1952 school year saw
another change of leadership at The
Montverde School. Dr. Grover Ford
took the reigns as president as 13
seniors graduated. In 1953, according
to the school’s Announcements Book,
students below the Junior High School
level, including K-5th grade, were
admitted for the first time.
Above: A classroom picture of the elementary grades in class.
School President Ford 1951-1952.
64
Right: A yearbook photo of the
1956 elementary classes.

Above top: Early 1950s graduating seniors.
Above: “I believe the picture was taken sometime between fall of 1956 and spring of 1958. The middle boy getting on the bus is Bert Roberts,
the two boys in the second window are Tommy Mizell on the left and Cyril “Chip” Cozier on the right. Chip is my brother and he attended TMS
from the fall 1956 to the spring of 1958. Tommy was his friend.”- Carol (Lynn) Cozier Winger, Class of ‘57
Montverde Academy 1950s 65

During the mid-1950s, tuition was approximately $550 for an 18-week semester. Home Economics
courses were taught and incorporated into the curriculum to become more specialized and included
deep-fry cooking techniques and meat preparation. The school’s farming labors began growing several
kinds of beans that included kidney beans, peas, and green beans.
Left page: Summer
camp brochure
from 1950.
Above: Pages from the
1953 school catalog.
Left: A page from the
1953 school catalog.
Montverde Academy 1950s 67

Agriculturally, the 1950s was a time of campus
refinement where even the irrigation systems
on campus went through upgrades that cost
hundreds of thousands of dollars. The goal of
these renovations was to allow increased water
Above: Students working on the farm.
Above: Students working in the
kitchen preparing dinner.
Right: Elementary school students
helping out with farm chores.
68

Top, right, and below: Pictures from the
1953 catalog advertising how students
can study and learn to work in the field.
access and flow to the farthest points of campus
from the shoreline of Lake Florence that would
in turn increase the watering treatments of more
crops encompassing nearly 125-acres.
Montverde Academy 1950s 69

In the late 1950s, The Montverde School’s campus culture began
to reflect cultural changes beginning to occur throughout
the nation and before the social upheavals of the 1960s. For
example, male students between ages of 14-19 were allowed
to smoke on campus provided they got written permission
from their parents. Girls were not allowed to smoke, but
were extended many of the freedoms boys had experienced.
Above: Girls preparing and serving food, circa 1950s.
Above: Students preparing food for serving, circa 1950s.
Above: Students from the 1950s workshop.
Even so, there were long standing rules
that no alcoholic beverages or other
forms of tobacco products were allowed
on campus for either gender.
70
Above: The 1952 Montverde Fire Department.

Above: A 1955 view of the pastures.
Above: An underclassmen girl in 1950.
Above: Boys raising rabbits in1955.
Montverde Academy 1950s 71

The Montverde School closed out the 1950s
with the culmination of structural plans to
build the largest and first male-only dorm
on campus. This building would be named
Carpenter Hall, after the first President and
Headmaster, H.P. Carpenter.
72

Right: The Montverde Breeze
advertising the new buildings
on campus.
Left: A 1956 team photo of the
boys basketball team.
Above: 1956 cheerleaders.
Montverde Academy 1950s 73

Below: A class
in domestic art
74
Above: A list of dining hall rules circa 1960.

1960s
Seeking Stability in an Ever Changing America
In 1960, the reported cost of a new home was approximately
$13,000 and by the end of the decade nearly $16,000. The average
income of a U.S. citizen was about $5,500 a year and by 1969 almost
$9,000. The decade was dominated by American participation in the
Vietnam War and conflicts between the economic systems of
Above: The cover of the 1963 yearbook.
capitalism versus communism and the election and untimely death of
President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy provided inspiration to many people that encouraged them
to become involved with public service as he helped to create organizations like the Peace Corps to help
economically frail nations with rebuilding and maintaining their internal infrastructures and growth. The
failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the beginning stages of involvement in the Vietnam
War, and the Space Race to “reach the moon” before the former Soviet Union, were all factors contributing
to the decade’s American attitudes, values, and beliefs. Cautious vigilance, motivated by the preceding
decade’s Cold War, inspired young people to employ President Kennedy’s request to “ask not what your
country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.”
Above: Carpenter Hall, 1965.
Montverde Academy 1960s 75

A welcome letter from
President Henry D. Roberts.
Likewise, cultural
upheavals would impact
the Montverde Academy
campus in ways that
increased the campuswide
usage of the
traditional MVA motto
“Head, Heart, and Mind”
(Head-further knowledge,
Heart – follow paths of
righteousness, Mind - to
be alert and active) in
school documents and
promotional materials that welcomed the future of Montverde Academy. This attitude of optimism and
vigor helped inspire the planning and completion of many construction projects on campus throughout the
76

The MacKenzie Building (air conditioned classrooms and offices)
The George Ware Library
The Donnelly Building was used as a skating rink
The Lowry Music Building
Left: Faculty apartments.
Below: 1964 graduates enter the Chapel.
decade that were directed by President Henry D.
Roberts, including a much anticipated new library
on campus and expansion of faculty apartments
by the end of 1962.
Montverde Academy 1960s 77

On campus, the MVA student body
organizations followed the strict
Roberts Rule of Order form of
operations. Archival documents
illustrate how very important rules
were to the daily life of a MVA
student in the early 1960s. There
were 30 detailed rules students
were expected to follow for the
D.A.R. Hall, 34 rules for Dining
Hall, and 15 rules for congregating
at the Beehive. The rules addressed
everything from cash transactions,
Above: The Hootenanny Club.
counter behavior, loitering, and waiting turns to purchase items. Most impressively in this era was
the establishment of many diverse student clubs on campus that included a French Club, F.F.A.
(Future Farmers of America), Choir (over 30 boys and girls), Skating Club, Bowling, Square dance,
and Pep Club.
Above: Future Farmers of America, 1962.
78

Above: The 1967 school newspaper staff.
Above and left: From the 1962 yearbook showing
the popular activities of the time.
Montverde Academy 1960s 79

Above: 1966 senior class prophecy.
Sports related activities were comprised of cheerleading and JV and Varsity boys and girls basketball
teams (although by 1970, many other sports would also thrive). In 1963, yearbooks included a lighthearted
and funny Last Will and Testament as well as a clever Class Prophecy section filled with humorous wellwishes
and student wit. The St. Valentine’s Dance was a prominent event on campus throughout the early to
80

Above: The 1968 Valentine’s Day Court. Below left: The Valentine’s Queen.
middle 1960s and was celebrated by a student body
composed primarily of regional Florida students
embarking on an academic journey to develop a
“deeper desire for learning and greater appreciation
of the higher values of life.”
Above: Excerpts from the 1968 Valentine’s Day Dance.
Montverde Academy 1960s 81

Right: International students
from the 1963 yearbook.
Perhaps a reflection of the international
openness initiated by the creation of
organizations like the Peace Corps, the
number of international students on
campus were increasing and included
students from Japan, Germany, Iraq, and
Columbia. “With enlarged enrollment,
many improvements to buildings and
82
Above: 1964 Junior Varsity cheerleaders.

Examples of classrooms and teaching environments,
such as the open air classrooms.
campus, a well-qualified staff and the cold
winter almost forgotten, the years ahead
loom bright and inviting for the Montverde
Academy,” wrote President Roberts in a 1964
message to Montverde Academy students.
An original patch used for
cheerleading with a manager’s pin.
Montverde Academy 1960s 83

Organizations of the later 1960s
continued to grow and succeed with
the further implementation of the
Montverde Academy philosophy
of offering students the opportunity
to “become a responsible citizen
of the community” and included
new female empowerment-based
organizations like Y-Teens, an
organization of almost 20 girls
whose mission was to “build the
fellowship of women and girls
devoted to the task of realizing
Y Teens.
those ideals of personal and social living…by faith as Christians.” Intramural sports options also increased
in popularity during the 1960s with the addition of baseball and swimming.
84
Above: The 1964 school baseball team.

Above: Typing class and an elementary class. Left: The Beehive, a
gathering spot for students. Below: Students congregate at
the Beehive in 1964.
By 1965, Montverde Academy attendance
from outside Florida included students from
Venezuela, Virgin Islands, West Indies,
and American states as far away as New
York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and
Washington, D.C. Photos of MVA students
during the middle to late 1960s reflect a
willingness on behalf of the Academy’s
administration to allow students to be more expressive in their dress and manner as they adjusted to
President Kennedy’s assassination, the cultural turmoil occurring with the beginnings with the communist
threat of Cuba, civil rights in American society, and the advent of the Vietnam War and the national
protests opposing the war.
Montverde Academy 1960s 85

By 1966, Montverde Academy’s clubs
included: Public Speaking, Band, Dance,
and an all-inclusive student council. Montverde
Academy belonged to the Florida High School
Activities Association that retained teams
competing in track, swimming, and boys JV
and Varsity basketball teams, the latter of which
was coached by future President Dr. Walter L.
Stephens, that won the regional Lakes and Hills
Basketball Championship that year. According
to the 1967-1968 Montverde Academy General
Catalog, an important objective of the faculty was
to make sure students maintained an established
code of ethics and personal conduct as they
continued to “Study, Work, and Play,” even
establishing a competitive skating rink on campus
for a few years.
Above: The center advertisement in the
Montverde 1968 catalog.
Left: A group of students who received less
than five penalty hours for the year, a system
that is still in place today.
86

Top: Best all-around students pose in front of the Academy entrance in 1967. Above: A page from the 1962 yearbook.
Montverde Academy 1960s 87

A 1964 two-page yearbook spread showing
the dorm life for both boys and girls.
88

Top: The 1967 Alma Mater.
Below: A page from the Faculty and
Staff section of the 1965 yearbook.
Montverde Academy 1960s 89

90
Some of the more popular clubs in the mid-1960s:
Left: Knitting Club.
Below: French Club.
Bottom: Spanish Club.

The St. Valentine’s Dance/
Sweetheart and Valentine
Court continued being a
popular event throughout
the 1960s. By the end of
the decade, other events
during the school year
seemed to garner just
as much support and
anticipation, such as the Halloween Dance and the Miss Montverde Academy Pageant, a very popular and
long standing campus competition lasting until 1975.
Top: Students enjoy the Stardust dance in 1969. Above left: Students
dancing in the Martha Bedell Dining Hall where events were often held.
Above right: Kitchen staff prepare for an event. Right: Students in the late
1960s and fashion of the time period.
Montverde Academy 1960s 91

92 Above: A page from the 1962 yearbook.

Above: The newly opened Henry D. Roberts Gymnasium.
There were also many additional
clubs added to the Montverde
Academy student body during this
time including Bible Club, Spanish
Club, Knitting Club, Psychology
Club, Chess Club, Nature Club (that
created an interest in ecology), and
the International Relations Club
(that compared conflicts, economies,
and people of foreign countries).
Montverde Academy also began to
understand the new and important
roles that local Florida commerce
Right: Interior of the new gym. Below: Coach’s office.
and regional business support could provide as
MVA joined in various partnership events with
advertisers like Orlando, Florida’s Biggers,
Patterson & Parkke Advertising, CPI (Central
Purchasing, Inc.), First National Bank, Maryland
Fried Chicken, Pepsi-Cola, Winter Garden
Lumber Co., and Winter Garden Inn from nearby Winter Garden, Florida. These relationships helped
establish financial support for yearbook activity, public outreach, sports and alumni events.
Montverde Academy 1960s 93

94
A selection of yearbook
covers from 1964 to 1969.

A personal photo donated from Logan Lane of his
uncle’s graduating class.
An early postcard featuring the gymnasium and the boys’ residence.
Montverde Academy 1960s 95

Another new trend developing in
student popularity was the “Montverde
Academy Summer School Study and
Play,” a summer school program that
gave “students who did not apply
themselves in the regular school
year with an opportunity to receive
individual attention.” The summer
school programs created in the 1960s
were taught by regular MVA faculty for
grades 1-12 to help struggling students
get on the right academic track.
These summer programs continued
as important aspects of academic
programming throughout the next
four decades.
96
Above: The 1968 summer
school brochure.

By 1968, Montverde Academy
had chosen former faculty and
varsity boys basketball coach Dr.
Walter L. Stephens, Jr. as the new MVA
Headmaster. Under this new appointment,
Dr. Stephens shared the management
of Montverde Academy with longterm
President Henry Roberts. In 1969,
Headmaster Stephens would assume these
responsibilities alone as Headmaster. By
decade’s end, the Montverde Academy
had observed the civil rights movement
and anti-war Vietnam groups operating
Left: The new Headmaster, Dr. Walter L. Stephens.
with high-profile protests on many American colleges
and U.S. cities sparking anger and divisiveness between
U.S. citizens. The assassinations of many public figures
including civil rights advocates like Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., Malcolm X, and both Senator Robert Kennedy
and President John F. Kennedy, added to the civic
disorder. The space race with Russia also ended with the
Apollo 11 Mission of 1969. Astronaut Neil Armstrong,
with the assistance of Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, became
the first humans to reach the moon and utter the famous
phrase “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind.”
Right: Mrs. Stephens, wife of Dr. Stephens and
Dean of Girls and Director of Admission.
Montverde Academy 1960s 97

98
The 1974 senior class officers.

1970s
New Leadership, New Visions
The decade of the 1970s in America witnessed a continuation in
the disarray and turmoil of the late 1960s. Historical protests
nationwide centered around ending the Vietnam War and for the
advancement of civil and women’s rights. This would be the decade
where America chose to impeach President Richard Nixon in 1974,
Above: Yearbook from 1970.
celebrated a bicentennial anniversary, and elected a former Georgia
farmer and Democratic Governor Jimmy Carter as president in 1976. Montverde Academy met the reality
of these ever changing cultural events with a positive spirit and vigorous plans for campus building projects,
and continued implementation of the long standing Montverde philosophy centered on helping students
“grow toward the world of tomorrow with a quest for harmony among men and duties within a system of
mutual responsibilities and law and order.”
The 1972 senior class officers.
Montverde Academy 1970s 99

Instead of the title of
Headmaster awarded to
him in 1969, Dr. Walter L.
Stephens, Jr. would now hold
the designation of President
of Montverde Academy
starting in 1970. A main
focus of President Stephens’
administrational vision seemed
intent on proposing, directing,
and completing many
infrastructure projects to help
meet the housing and academic
needs of both students and staff
of Montverde Academy.
Above: Dr. Stephens reviews the Academy growth plans. Below: Mrs. Stephens in her office.
100
“It is our purpose at Montverde Academy
to take your student where he is and work
with him from there. We further recognize
that each student is an individual who has
individual needs. We try and meet these
needs through small classes, individualized
instruction, proper motivation, supervision,
and a balanced program of academic study
and social activities,” President Stephens
stated in a 1975 Montverde catalog.

Above: The 1976 yearbook which showed the completed Athletic Complex as well as construction beforehand.
The Montverde Academy student center, a new girls dorm, and a new administration building were
all scheduled for completion within the first part of the decade. In fact, campus-wide infrastructure
projects flourished under President Stephens and included finishing construction of the Walter Stephens
Administration Building in 1970, the President’s home finalized in 1973, the tennis courts resurfacing and
enlargement concluded in 1975, and the Athletic Complex and 440 yard running track and soccer field/
baseball field completed in 1976. These structural accomplishments helped create a new student spirit that
permeated the energy of the Montverde Academy campus throughout the 1970s.
Montverde Academy 1970s 101

Miss Montverde
Academy 1970
Miss Carey Poston
Greenville, SC
Miss Montverde
Academy 1969
Miss Maureen Vaughn
Port of Spain, Trinidad
Miss Montverde
Academy 1972
Miss Beth Davies
Miami, FL
Miss Montverde Academy 1971, Miss Debi Scogin
Brandon, FL
Miss Montverde
Academy 1975
Miss Lorinet Stegins
Sylvania, GA
102
Miss Montverde
Academy 1974
Miss Debbie Gunn
Coral Gables, FL

Miss Montverde Academy 1973, Miss Karen Ferguson, Naples, FL
Throughout the early to middle 1970s, Halloween,
Christmas, Thanksgiving, and homecoming activities
were celebrated on campus with tremendous vigor,
involvement, and respect. The Miss Montverde
Academy pageant continued to be a memorable
event of competition and attracted many participants
from varied backgrounds and included performance
interludes by both male and female student solo
musicians.
Montverde Academy 1970s 103

Although core values of the
Academy would continue to be
taught and enforced by faculty
and administration, documents of
this period also reflected a school
emphasis on individual expression
and tolerance.
Top right: Excerpt of students from 1973 yearbook.
Above: Christmas in the dorms.
Below: The 1976 Homecoming Court.
104

Some of the more memorable faces
on campus in the late 70s:
Far left: Robert Moffett, ESL teacher.
Left: Ottis McQuaig, Superintendent.
Below: Jackie Carroll, social studies
teacher.
Above left: Students
boarding a school bus
in the 1970s.
Bottom left: Students
checking for mail.
Right: Andre Van Meeteren,
a freshman focused on
in the 1978 Who’s Who
section of the yearbook.
Montverde Academy 1970s 105

By the middle of the decade, color photos in catalogs and brochures depict students, faculty,
and staff working and congregating in androgynous atmospheres where male and female
students lounged together in swimwear pool side, dined together at meals, shared their
acoustic guitar and piano music with each other, and danced comfortably and
freely apart from each other during school-sponsored dances.
106

All pictures from a catalog used throughout the
early 1970s advertising Montverde Academy.
Montverde Academy 1970s 107

In 1976, in respect to the American Bicentennial, students
travelled to Washington, D.C., to visit with 5th District
Florida Congressional Representative Richard Kelly. The
event of Parents Night had also become a popular staple
of interest at Montverde Academy. Students, faculty, and
parents were able to meet together and discuss student
All pictures from a catalog used
throughout the late 1970s advertising
Montverde Academy.
108

academics and programming as they cultivated
relationships and understandings between each other
that would in time serve as a precursor to the modernday
Montverde Academy Parent Association.
Montverde Academy 1970s 109

Throughout the 1970s, boys wore their hair longer
than ever before while girls sported short dresses and
were allowed to wear jeans and corduroy pants when
not attending classes. Organizations were developing
on campus fertile with innovative concepts that
addressed many different intellectual and spiritual
concerns associated with 1970s contemporary
American society. A Girls Athletic Association had
Right: A student showing off the fashion of the mid-1970s.
Above: The Folk Song C lub. Below: The Photo Club in 1971 (Back: J. Montalti, F. Valks. Front: M. Tingen, L. Ension, Mr. Handley, B. Hoppe, J. Thomas).
110

een formed; a Folk Song Club, a
Rembrandt Painting Club, a more
contemporary-based Drama Club,
and Astronomy Club were the newest
of the decade’s club additions.
Top: A student in a typing class. Right: Students show off
the “keep off the grass” sign. Bottom: The Bible Club.
Montverde Academy 1970s 111

By 1977, the aesthetics of Montverde Academy
demonstrated an openness, humor and creativity that
manifested itself in student pictures containing captions
of sarcasm and folly. A section of the 1977 yearbook
asked “What is Montverde?” and was answered with a
curious style of punctuation and capitalization (similar
to that of the popular American poet E.E. Cummings):
“Montverde is buildings with four walls and the future
inside. Along with the educational fundamentals
Left: The Swimming Club, 1971. Below: The tennis team. Bottom: Freshmen from 1978.
112

Above: Score keepers, 1974. Left: A 1977 yearbook page.
Below: Students enjoying the front lawn in 1974.
it provides experience
in living together as
a family. A healthy,
friendly atmosphere,
dedicated to improving
the Mind – the Body and
the Social Graces – with
the Aim of making ALL
of us better qualified to
move into the FUTURE.
A FUTURE that is but
a few short years ahead
…A FUTURE filled with
HAPPINESS.”
Montverde Academy 1970s 113

By 1978, events such as the
Halloween Party, “… the night
of the year when supernatural
influences prevailed, when
ghosts walked, spirits hovered,
and witches rode through the
air on broomsticks” had gained
in popularity and importance
with the student body and was
given a two-page spread in
that year’s yearbook.
114
Top: A glimpse of Who’s Who in the
sophomore class in 1978.
Center: The new Montverde
Academy logo found on a school
van. Below: The MacKenzie
Building in the early 1970s.

Above: The Student Center, 1973. Left: A student gets a haircut from the campus barber in
1978. Below: The early 1970s administration team.
Montverde Academy 1970s 115

By decade’s end, tuition, room, and board
fees were $3,200 a year for boarding students
and $1,450 for day students. The presence of
a highly successful Junior Varsity and Varsity
basketball, volleyball, track, and tennis teams
also occurred throughout the 1970s and girls
Varsity Cheerleading, boys Varsity Basketball,
and cross-country continued to remain
competitive in the region and were comprised
of students from diverse race and cultures.
Right: 1979 cheerleaders.
Above:1977 Varsity Eagles. Right: Boys track trophy, 1978.
116

Above: JV basketball, 1977.
Center: Girls tennis, 1977.
Below: JV soccer, 1979.
Montverde Academy 1970s 117

The Graduating Class of 1978.
The graduating class of 1978 perhaps best exemplified Montverde Academy’s varied student
body composition by graduating students from Aruba, Bahamas, El Salvador, Honduras, Iran,
Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
118
The graduating class of 1970.

A program from the 1978 Commencement.
Montverde Academy 1970s 119

The 1970s observed the cultural
examination of women’s and civil rights,
non-traditional clothes and hairstyles,
advances in computer technology, the
Watergate scandal and Congressional
hearings that ousted President Nixon
and saw the leadership of both Gerald
Ford and Jimmy Carter end, the end of
the Vietnam War, and the end of the
Iran Hostage Crisis that contributed
A student filming a campus event in 1977.
Above: Students lining up for lunch in the Martha Bedell Dining Hall.
to high gas prices and a country trending toward modern conservative values that culminated with the
election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.
120

Top left: 1975 senior class officers. Top right:
Senior Allan Duprey in his dorm room.
1974 baseball team: M. Mendez, S. Hejl,
D. Baker, J. Perez, T. Smith, R. Hartt,
Manager T. Benson, K. Rogers, Manager
T. Emmet, Coach MacGregor, Coach
Marshall, B. Roberts, J. Poorman, L.
Beville, D. Williams, D. Pittman, J. Hajek,
G. Bermiss, R. Escobar, K. Murray,
W. Sapp.
1974 track team: Coach Stanfield, Managers
T. Benson and T. Emmet, S. Hejl,
J. Perez, T. Ryan, T. Smith, B. Skipper,
R. Hartt, A. Lutes, B. Robie, J. Poorman,
G. Gosselin, K. Murray, K. Rogers, D.
Pittman, D. Williams, L. Beville, J. Hajek,
G. Bemiss; Coach Ingrassia.
Montverde Academy 1970s 121

Above: Danny Thompson, campus
security and maintenance, late 1970s.
122

Top: Students before homecoming.
Above: Dr. Stephens.
Right: Students before classes in the mid 1970s.
Background: Brochure for summer school, 1975. Montverde Academy 1970s 123

124
Above: A picture of the Carl E. Duncan Bell Tower used in advertising Montverde Academy from the early 1980s.

The Montverde School on the green hills of lake
county was originally established in this small two
room building.
Above: Yearbook from 1988.
1980s
Reconnecting with Montverde Academy’s Core Values
K
nown historically as the “me” decade, the 1980s were filled
with many different changes in both American society and
at Montverde Academy. Status, clothing labels, and the desire for
opulence, double-digit inflation, drug wars, and cultural battles
regarding public decency and how to fund public arts, education,
and policy developments to combat the AIDS (Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome) epidemic were all contributing factors to the
1980s American psyche. Music videos, cable television, the art of popular world-wide artists like Michael
Jackson and Madonna, as well as lesser-known sub-culture movements inspired by visual artists such as
Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol, along with the heavy metal and punk rock music, competed for
public approval and built a resistance from those people aligning themselves with the more conservative
“family values” principles of the Reagan Administration, “preppy” lifestyles, and ideals associated with
corporate mergers and individual financial prosperity.
Mrs. Stephens spends time with students.
Montverde Academy 1980s 125

At Montverde Academy, President Walter L. Stephens, Jr. remained dedicated to
providing students a quality education that created opportunities to be involved
with campus sports and activities, regional trips, and first-class academic
instruction. He was dedicated to the enforcement of rules and
student’s social behaviors needed to become a
well-rounded person.
126
All pictures used in 1980s catalog
advertising Montverde Academy.

Left top, center: Dorm rooms for boys and girls. Left: Students enjoy the Student Center.
Top right: Technology class in the 1980s. Top center: Students enjoy a day on Lake Florence.
Below: A few of Montverde Academy’s student athletes pose for a catalog advertisement.
Montverde Academy 1980s 127

According to 1980 and 1981 promotional
materials, “Poise and manners,” long standing
aspects of the Montverde Academy student
Below: A class
in domestic art
128
From the 1981 yearbook.

culture, continued to be stressed as a means
of gaining achievement and reputation in
school and life.
Construction photos and finished
building of the Fine Arts Auditorium.
Montverde Academy 1980s 129

Specific regulations forbid
gambling in any form,
drinking any intoxicating
beverages of any form,
clandestine meetings from
anyone of the opposite sex,
using profane language, or
engaging in any disrespectful
behavior demonstrated
toward any member of the
administration, faculty, or
staff of Montverde Academy.
Right and below: Pictures in front of the
chapel and a map of campus used in
advertising catalogs in the mid-1980s.
130

Top: An aerial view of campus used in
advertising catalogs in the mid-1980s.
Above: A “skate car”
visits campus.
Left: Advertising
showed Montverde
Academy using
modern technology
of the time.
Above: A popular recreation activity of the time was roller-skating.
Montverde Academy 1980s 131

These expectations and standards were further punctuated
in the 1980-1985 Montverde Academy Student Handbook’s
Montverde Philosophy that stated, “Realizing that our
community is within the American society, we strive to instill
in our students an appreciation to keep current on events
that are of concern to Americans. Guidelines for behavior
are formed, which, we believe, are best suited to develop
character conducive to positive citizenship within the
American setting… Hence, we strive to promote a desire to
honor each other’s rights and duties within a system of mutual
responsibilities and
law and order. In this
light, our young men
and women will face
the world of tomorrow
Top right: A student uses a
classroom computer. Right: A
boarding student listening to music.
132
Students in the MacKenzie classrooms and the fashion of the mid-1980s.

Above: A typing class in the MacKenzie Building,1980s.
with a quest for harmony among men and
preservation of individual worth. They
will do so in a rational and logical way
which will result in learned solutions to
complex problems.”
Above: Fashion of the mid-1980s.
Right: Students playing video games in the Student Center.
Montverde Academy 1980s 133

In the early 1980s, many
Montverde Academy students
were awarded the opportunity
to travel to Europe and
visit countries such as Italy,
Austria, and Germany as a
means of broadening their
understandings of different
cultures. This continued
throughout the decade. The
most memorable of these trips
Right: Students using a golf cart. Below: Dr. and Mrs.
Stephens in the homecoming parade. Right center:
Watching a game in the Roberts gym.
Left: A student
caught at the
water fountain.
Right: A selection
of graduating
seniors in 1980.
134

occurred in 1987 when Dr. and
Mrs. Stephens, along with several
Montverde Academy students and
chaperones, visited South Korea,
Hong Kong, and China.
Top left: Students in their dorm room. Top right: A student trip to China.
Left: A student playing the electric guitar in the music room.
Bottom: Students in class in the mid-1980s.
Montverde Academy 1980s 135

Throughout the 1980s, talent shows and sports
prospered and Montverde Academy clubs continued
to include miscellaneous options for students to
choose from such as: Cooking, Weight-lifting, War
Games, Photography, Backgammon, Bible Studies,
Horseback Riding, and a Senior Volunteer Club.
Right: War Games Club. Below: Photography Club.
Bottom: Backgammon Club.
Below: A class
in domestic art
136

Top: Needlepoint Club. Center: Amateur Radio Club. Above: Aerobic Club.
Montverde Academy 1980s 137

Montverde Academy placed a
special importance on senior
academics with a “Senior
Who’s Who” section of their
yearbooks. In the 1980s, the
MVA community underwent
an observable modification of
style changing from the more
utopian-like folks and craftsminded
Montverde Academy
of the late 1970s into a campus
once again focused on neatness,
personal grooming, fitness and,
as exemplified in the MVA 1985
yearbook, a school reminding
Right: Junior class superlatives. Below left: Candid
shot of superlatives. Below right: Who’s Who in the
junior class in 1989.
138

students that there is “No
Better Time to Improve
the Body and Mind” than
when one “Perfected
Work and Play.”
Top left: Students from 1986. Top right: The campus librarian showing off the card catalog system.
Center: Students at a school dance. Bottom: Student head shots from the 1986 yearbook.
Montverde Academy 1980s 139

The student body of the 1980s
also continued to include a wide
array of international students
from as far away as Brazil, Japan,
Mexico, and Saudi Arabia, and
as close as Winter Garden,
Florida. Montverde Academy
boys and girls JV and Varsity
teams competed in basketball
and volleyball and had both
a boys track and field and
soccer team.
Girls volleyball team in 1987.
Left: JV Cheerleaders from 1986. Above: Boys basketball team.
Below: Weight-lifting Club.
140

Perhaps a message found in a
1988 Student Handbook from the
school president, Dr. Stephens, best
exemplifies the Montverde Academy
mission and philosophy of achieving
student success throughout the 1980s
when he writes of Stars to Steer By from
a book in the archives of the Academy:
Show enthusiasm
and you’ll have enthusiasm.
Those who make trouble rarely
make much else.
As respect for law dies,
democracy dies.
Recipe for happiness:
Do more than you have to.
Souls need goals.
The best defense is common sense.
Opportunity and ability
add up to responsibility.
Spend your life for something
that will outlast it.
The road to success is
always under construction.
Every man is the architect
of his own future.
Even perfect people buy
pencils with erasers.
Running people down is a bad habit,
whether you are a gossip or motorist.
Be sure your path leads upward;
there is always room at top.
You may delay, but time will not.
Top: Late 1980s Eagle mascot. Center: Girls softball team, 1987.
Below: Dr. Stephens congratulates the girls softball team.
Montverde Academy 1980s 141

In 1989, a very important administration appointment
was made. Mrs. Sandra Stephens, wife of then
Montverde Academy President, Dr. Walter L. Stephens,
was appointed as Vice President of the Academy and
Director of Admissions and Public Relations. By the
end of the decade, America had survived a worldwide
economic recession, observed cultural battles relating
to economic policies, funding for the arts, nuclear
energy policy, the disaster at Chernobyl, the invasion of
Grenada, unrest in the regions of Beirut, Afghanistan,
and the Middle East, as well as President Reagan and
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev agreeing to end the
Cold War and “tear down” the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Right: Newly appointed Vice President,
Mrs. Sandra Stephens.
Above: A student using the pay phone.
142
Right: Students in their typing class.

Left: A student receives a haircut from the on-campus barber. Above: Class
superlatives. Below left: Students dissect a frog. Below right: A student
phones home.
Montverde Academy 1980s 143

Montverde Academy remained focused on
doing what they had done for over fifty years:
developing the minds and bodies of students
by creating an environment where students
were given, as a MVA handbook from the
Above top: Montverde Academy logo from the commencement invitation. Center: 1986 commencement invitation. Bottom: A picture of the new library.
144

Top: A rendering of the new dining hall.
Center: MVA handbook. Left: Students
enjoy video games in the Student Center.
1980s states, a “deeper desire for learning
and a greater appreciation of the higher
values of life.”
Montverde Academy 1980s 145

146
The cover of a catalog used to advertise Montverde Academy through the early 1990s.

1990s
Alterations and Growth
As America entered the decade of the 1990s, events occurring
throughout the world included the unrest between Iran and
Iraq and the Gulf War, the ethnic cleansing, atrocities, and murders
Yearbook from 1993.
committed during the Huto and Tutsi conflicts associated with the
Rwandan genocide, the Muslims, Serbs, and Croats divergences that led to the Bosnian War, and the
increase in poverty, famine, and AIDS happening throughout Africa. These world incidents coupled with
the popularity in the usage of personal computers and the World Wide Web, e-mail, cell phones, and
internet technology impacted the ways students prepared, studied, and lived their lives.
A view of the Martha Bedell Dining Hall in the early 1990s.
Montverde Academy 1990s 147

In popular culture, Music Television (MTV) videos and
fashion, widely popular animated shows such as South
Park, Beavis and Butthead, and the situation comedy
Married with Children utilized dramatic arts with humor
to address contemporary American adult themes as they
questioned social norms.
Left: A student studying in class. Above: A student using a new smaller
portable video camera. Below: A collage from the 1993 yearbook.
148

Above: Hairstyles of the early 1990s.
Left and far left: Students outside the Carl E.
Duncan Tower and the fashion of the time.
Below: A collage found in the 1990 yearbook.
Montverde Academy 1990s 149

Other widespread
cultural movements
such as the “Grunge”
music scene inspired
pop-rock icons like
Seattle, Washington,
rock-bands Nirvana and
Pearl Jam who helped
to usher in a new era of
campus inclusiveness
at MVA that focused
on student equality and
international optimism
perhaps best exemplified
Students in class in the MacKenzie Building.
by the introductory pages of the 1991 yearbook that stated, “If you can raise a smile to everyone you see
and hold no grudge towards anyone at all, if you live each day to its utmost and you see things as they are
instead of as they are not, then you have life’s truest meaning and where others have failed you will succeed.”
150
Above: Pictures advertising the new science building. Inset: A 1990s classroom.

Students having fun.
Top right: The Jörn M. Kreke Science Building opened in 1993.
Above: The new computer lab included 20 new workstations.
Left: Students enjoy the new science lab.
Montverde Academy 1990s 151

Montverde Academy
President, Dr. Walter L.
Stephens, and his wife,
Vice President Sandra O.
Stephens, continued their
work to promote student
responsibility and the
adherence to our school’s
core principles that
encouraged students, “to
handle yourself, use your
head; to handle others, use
your heart.”
Right: Dr. Stephens talks to students
outside the administration building.
152
Inset: The school chapel. Above: Dr. Stephens in an advertising photo used throughout the 1990s.

Top left: Mrs. Stephens shares
a laugh with students. Left:
Computer class. Right: Senior
Class of 1997 used in future
catalogs. Below: Cover from the
1996-1997 catalog.
Montverde Academy 1990s 153

Boys and girls Varsity basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball and
softball continued to thrive alongside such student activities
as the Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day dances. Fine
arts activities and
clubs now included
a Community
Service Club.
Dramatic plays of
Macbeth, The Little
Match Girl, The
Importance of Being
Earnest, and
What Women Want
Most were also produced
on campus in
the 1990s.
Girls in their P.E. attire.
Students enjoying the popular in-line skating.
One of the popular clubs of the time.
154

Above: Tae Kwon Do class.
Far left: Students in their P.E.
uniforms. Left: Students helping in
the Student Center.
Above: Inside the new George H. Rast Library and Media Center.
Montverde Academy 1990s 155

Various marketing materials from the 1990s.
Montverde Academy archives from 1993 and 1994 reflect an increasing student
population. According to the Summer 1993 “Montverde Academy News” (Volume 7,
No. 4), Dr. Stephens awarded 29 diplomas to students as close as Winter Garden, Florida,
and as far away as Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Saitama-ken, Japan.
156

Montverde Academy 1990s 157

In 1992, the country also
elected a new U.S. President,
former Governor William
Jefferson Clinton from Hope,
Arkansas, who promised a more
prosperous America and whose
pioneering campaign used the
American rock band Fleetwood
Mac’s popular song “Don’t Stop
Thinking About Tomorrow” – a
musical message of rebirth and
hope for America that inspired
that year’s Montverde Academy
yearbook introduction entitled
Right: Inside page from the 1992 yearbook.
Below: Students having fun.
158

Students enjoy the outdoors between classes.
“Celebrate Life” which stated, “There is a wonderful
LIFE waiting to be lived, celebrate it today; life is too
short to put off living until tomorrow.”
Left: Hairstyles of the
mid-1990s.
Below: Showing off the
new school uniforms.
Top left: Art class.
Center left: Students
smiling for the camera.
Below left: Boys helping
a friend in front of
the bell tower.
Montverde Academy 1990s 159

In the early 1990s, a noticeable shift also occurred
in the Montverde Academy community where
public/private business partnerships developed that
welcomed loftier public advertising donors like First
Union National Bank of Florida and well-known
regional MVA supporters like Orlando, Florida’s
Aagaard-Juergensen, Inc., General Contractors,
and McCully Construction Company.
160
Top left: Soccer champions, 1996. Top right: Soccer champions, 1997. Center right: Both the
JV and Varsity Cheerleaders’ uniforms. Above: A student in the computer lab in his Montverde
uniform. Above right: Boys pose in front of the pool table and jukebox in the Student Center.

Top left: Mr. Carlo’s math class in the mid-1990s.
Top right: 1995 MVP in track, Jake Bouis.
Center left: The dining hall staff. Above: Students display
their country flags in the art room. Left: Students eating in the
dining hall in the late 1990s.
Montverde Academy 1990s 161

Remarkably, by 1994, 44 diplomas were
awarded to Montverde Academy students,
almost double from the previous year, and
although student graduation numbers would
again fall slightly as the 1990s ended, Montverde
Academy students were becoming as culturally
diverse as ever and succeeding in school work
related activities as well as in athletic contests
- winning state medals in track and field high
hurdles, and triple jump and relays, as they held
on-campus art shows, hosted regional ballet
dance company performances, volunteered at
local nursing homes, and continued travelling
the world, including visits to Budapest, Munich,
and Switzerland’s highest Alp, Mt. Titlis.
162
Top right: Pictures from an early 1990s yearbook showing reading glasses and headphones popular at the time. Center right: The dining hall. Center left:
Students looking through the yearbook. Bottom left: A poem found in a late 1990s yearbook. Bottom right: A student rests behind some books.

Top: A portrait section of a mid-1990s yearbook. Center left: A senior t-shirt design in 1996.
Above left: Softball players in their P.E. attire. Below: Seniors showing off the front of their senior
shirts in 1996.
Montverde Academy 1990s 163

By 1997, Montverde Academy had become
empowered by the possibilities the 1990s had to offer
and regularly attended regional “college nights” with
the accompaniment of numerous Academy Deans.
164
Top left: Jane Brewer, business office employee. Top right: Mr. Delmolino,
school principal. Above: Mr. Carlo, weekend administrator and math
teacher. Right: A catalog used in the late 1990s.

Top left and right: President
and Vice President, Dr. and
Mrs. Stephens. Above: A
student using the school hair
stylist. Left: The exercise
room. Right: Girls softball.
Also in 1997, the Montverde Academy state of the art fitness
center opened. Conjoined to the Henry D. Roberts Gymnasium,
the 2,400 square foot, air-conditioned facility consisted of
treadmills, step machines, recumbent bicycles, and Nautilusinspired
weights for squat and power-lifting.
Montverde Academy 1990s 165

By the end of the 1990s, summer school
was still an accepted option for both
the U.S. and international students with
differing academic needs and schedules.
The “Aims and Objectives of Summer
School” recognized that “summer is the
time of year students enjoy relaxation,
recreation, and some study – we have tried
to provide a balanced program where
all these needs can be accomplished.
Top right: Track champions, 1993. Above: Students enjoying music on their Sony
walkman cassette players. Right: The Student Center. Below: The Community
Service Club.
166

Classes are taught by qualified instructors,
in air-conditioned classrooms, where
each student is given individual
instruction. Under these conditions,
progress is inevitable.”
Top left: Girls tennis team. Top right and Left: Boarding students on
the weekend. Below: A class in the MacKenzie Building.
Montverde Academy 1990s 167

The graduating class of
1999 exemplified the
wondrous diversity of the
decade’s upward trending
p opulations comprised
of students as close as
Montverde, Florida, and
Washington, D.C., and
as far away as Barbados,
168

West Indies, Kinshasa,
Zaire, Hong Kong, China,
and Bottrop, Germany -
indicators of the amazing
growth and expansion in
infrastructure and student
population to occur in the
next decade at Montverde
Academy following the
1999 appointment of Dr.
Kasey C. Kesselring as the
school’s new Headmaster.
Montverde Academy 1990s 169

Below: A class
in domestic art
170
A page in the 2000 yearbook.

2000s
Progress and Prosperity for a New Millennium
By the year 2000, there had only been eight headmasters total in
Montverde Academy’s nearly 90 years of existence. Just 31 years
of age, Dr. Kasey C. Kesselring was selected MVA’s new Headmaster
in the summer of 1999. According to the South Lake Press newspaper
announcement from that year, Kesselring, one of the youngest
The 2000 yearbook welcomes a new millennium.
headmasters in the United States at the time, was selected by the Board of
Trustees “because of his proven leadership in motivating young people to excel, and his vision for developing
educational strategies that only a small school can implement.” Headmaster Kesselring had graduated from
Saint James School, a private high school located near Hagerstown, Maryland, then received his B.A. from
Dickenson College in Pennsylvania, with major concentrations in Latin-Classical History and Music, and
a Master of Arts in Education from Middle Tennessee State University (he recently received his Doctorate
in Education from California Coast University). Prior to his arrival at Montverde Academy, Dr. Kesselring
was both Dean of Students and former Assistant Headmaster at the Webb School in Nashville, Tennessee.
A selection of staff members from 2000.
Montverde Academy 2000s 171

From the very beginning of his tenure, Dr. Kesselring
provided innovative ideas for the new millennium - support
and guidance steeped in his visionary style inspired by his
own private school education, professional training, and belief
that it was the job of the educator to serve in loco parentis
(in the place of the parent) when helping students “re-invent
their self-esteem and self-confidence” as he remained loyally
committed to “providing a place where every young person
who enters these halls is provided with opportunities and
experiences to grow as individuals, to understand themselves
and those around them, and to have a deeper awareness of the
finer values of life.”
Top right: Dr. and Mrs.
Kesselring in front of
the auditorium.
Left to right: Various articles and
marketing pieces from the Academy.
172

slogans?
new school leader
2000-2001 yearbook
173

Dr. Kesselring began
work to advance the core
foundations of Montverde
Academy by working to
accomplish numerous longterm
goals that included
the establishment of sistercity
relationships with
cities like Tainan, Taiwan,
and Orlando, Florida, that
would allow MVA to serve
as hosts to hundreds of
students through cultural
immersion programs that
promoted economic growth
and cultural exchange
throughout the region.
Right: The 2001 Annual Fund Report.
A uniform only policy during school
hours was established under Dr.
Kesselring.
2002 brought baseball back to Montverde Academy.
174

Above: The 2002-2003 Accreditation Report showing students in their school uniforms.
Montverde Academy 2000s 175

Dr. Kesselring also increased accreditations and
enrollment by hundreds in the combined Montverde
Academy lower, middle, and upper school divisions,
and functioned as a managing compass directing the
Academy’s mission to “increase student knowledge,
and develop character through a nurturing, diverse
community” among MVA students and faculty “by
inspiring achievement, preparing for the future, and
leading from example.”
Above: English teacher,
Mrs. Moore, and her
students. Left: The first
prefects on campus
started in the 2006-
2007 school year.
Above: A student with Mrs. Lang in the science
building. Right: The 2008 Show Choir.
176

Middle school students celebrating purple and gold day.
Lower school students in science class.
Montverde Academy 2000s 177

Student technology access and computer labs were
expanded, new academy transportation vans and
buses were purchased, improvement of fine arts
curriculums and professional development of
teachers and administrators were instituted and
the establishment of a Montverde Academy PK3-
6th grade program, Honors and AP courses, multilevel
ESL programs, and SAT preparations classes
were added.
Lower School students using technology in 2012.
Top right: A yearbook collage of new equipment in the
computer lab, early 2000s. Bottom right: The Chen
Family International Language Laborartory.
Left: The fleet of buses transport students on a day trip.
178

Top left: The cast and crew from the 2012 production of A Christmas Carol. Top right: The MVA logo. Above left: A quote from Dr. Kesselring. Above
right: The music laboratory which opened in 2010. Below: The Lower School offers PK3-5th grade along with Montverde Academy’s grades 6-12.
Montverde Academy 2000s 179

By 2007, Montverde Academy had
continued its student world travel
programs with visits to Italy and England.
MVA Admissions and executive staff also
travelled working to foster the school’s
international prominence with trips to
China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea,
and Vietnam.
Above and right: A
reception in Hong
Kong, 2010.
Left: Baseball
continues to be
a strong force
through the 2000s.
180
Middle school girls having fun.

Above right and above: An excerpt from the 2010-2011 lower school yearbook.
Right: Students parcicipate in the junior/senior prom.
Above: The equestrian program continues to grow.
Left: The lower schools annual tradition of marrying the
letters “Q” and “U” in kindergarten.
Montverde Academy 2000s 181

Headmaster Kesselring established new dorms,
outdoor facilities, and sidewalks that enhanced the
aesthetics and landscape of the wonderful campus.
These undertakings have inspired the entire Montverde
Academy community, and prospective students and
alumni to further value and promote the advantages of
a private school education.
A 39-stall Equestrian Center was added in 2005.
Above: A brochure advertising MVA in early 2000.
182
Sidewalks and landscaping along with the hard work of the maintenance staff keeps the campus beautiful.

new buildings...
maybe new sports
facility
Above: The Athletic Complex
opened in 2010. This aerial
view shows the facility which
includes a baseball field, tennis
courts, golf practice greens,
fields for softball, track, soccer,
and football practice.
One of the residence halls include Arnold Hall, a dormitory for up to 70 boys in grades 11 and 12.
Montverde Academy 2000s 183

The Kentucky Derby themed fundraiser held in 2010.
Although dramatic arts and expression had for
years been taught and cultivated in classes, school
organizations, and semester events held in the
Sandra O. Stephens Fine Arts Auditorium, evening
events were developed that increased the visibility
of Montverde Academy and welcomed surrounding
communities through featured performances and
lectures from acclaimed artists such Danny Glover
and Marlee Matlin.
The Montverde Academy
Fine Arts Department
presents
by Israel Horowitz
184
Wednesday,
November 30th at 7:00pm
Thursday, December 1st
and
Friday, December 2nd
at 8:00pm
Sandra O. Stephens
Fine Arts Auditorium
Admission $10.00
Top right: 2004 annual fundraiser featuring actor
Danny Glover. Above: 2009 featured actress and
author Marlee Matlin as the guest speaker.
Left: A poster for the fine arts play A Christmas
Carol, performed in 2011.

A page from the Montverde Academy Spring 2010 Tower magazine showing guests from the Kentucky Derby themed fundraiser.
Montverde Academy 2000s 185

By the latter part of the decade, remarkable
opportunities for students had been established
that improved their participation in arts, athletics,
clubs, and service organizations and advanced
Montverde Academy’s previous fundamentals of
education that had for over 80 years led students
to entrance into the world’s leading colleges and
universities. In 2012, the Academy is very proud
of its 100 percent standard college acceptance
rate and 85 percent college of first choice.
Right: The 2009 Prefects. Below: 2010 National Junior Honor Society. Bottom left:
Bookworm Buddies Club. Bottom right: The 2009 Hi-Q Club.
186

An except from the Tower magazine about current school teams.
Montverde Academy 2000s 187

Spoken-word performances were also produced that
celebrated historical figures like Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. and Langston Hughes and helped to create a fresh
momentum that emphasized both instructional and
organizational effectiveness focused on expanding national
accreditations that now include the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools, the Florida Council of Independent
Schools, the Southern Association of Independent Schools,
and the Florida Kindergarten Council.
Class of 2004.
From the 2012 Montverde Academy profile.
2008 FVA District 6 Choral MPA.
188

Top left: The lower school art
room. Top right: Students in
their Wednesday dress attire.
Above: The revised Alma
Mater (revised in 2006).
Left: The Class of 2005.
Background: The front cover of the
2011 Upper School student planner.
Montverde Academy 2000s 189

During the decade, Montverde Academy also gained
national prominence for its invitational basketball
tournament and nationally-ranked Varsity basketball
and soccer sports programs that won both the ESPN
POWERADE National Championships for boys
Varsity basketball in 2007, and boys Varsity soccer
in 2010.
190
Top left: 2010 M.A.I.T. program cover. Top right: 2007 M.A.I.T. poster. Left: Students enjoying the tournament. Above: 2012 M.A.I.T. program cover.

Left: The inaugural M.A.S.T. tournament program cover.
Top right: Boys soccer trophy for the Winter 2011 season.
Bottom left: The M.A.S.T. tournament logo.
Bottom right: David Graydon, class of 2012.
Montverde Academy 2000s 191

Equally impressive was the focus
placed on the arts throughout the
2000s that would culminate in the
design, creation, and development
of Montverde Academy’s newest
arts building completed in 2011,
the $2 million Sandra O. Stephens
Center for Media & Performing
Arts equipped with new media
labs and music rehearsal spaces.
Top right: The exterior of
the new fine arts addition.
Above left: The Mac lab.
Above right: Film studio.
Right: Control room of the
film studio.
192

Seussical the Musical
April 11-13, 2012
Wednesday and Thursday @ 7:00 pm
Friday @ 8:00 pm
Sandra O. Stephens Fine Arts Auditorium
Admission $10.00
(Left) Moriah White
and Mary Nerad
Kevin McDonnell as
Horton the Elephant
Scenes from various productions form the fine arts students
including Mulan (top), Seussical the Musical (left), Lessons
and Carols (above).
Montverde Academy 2000s 193

It seems hard to imagine the humble backgrounds of the
Montverde Industrial School that opened on September
23, 1912, and whose mission was “to educate children
from families of limited means, and provide them with
training for the heart, head, and hand” had constructively
transformed into a prestigious academic institution
known today as Montverde Academy.
Various yearbook covers from the Lower School.
194

According to Montverde
Academy admissions statistics,
the school now educates nearly
900 students on a daily basis,
including more than 300
boarding students from 13 states
across America and 47 countries.
Background: The baccalaureate program for the Class of 2012. Above: An aerial view of the Class of 2009 as seen in their yearbook.
Montverde Academy 2000s 195

Aside from the establishment of a very successful
academic activity partnerships with the Gary Gilchrist
Golf Academy, The National Tennis Academy (NTC), the
National Training Center Swimming Program (NTC),
and the creation of the M.A.I.T (Montverde Academy
Invitational Tournament), the new annual M.A.S.T
(Montverde Academy Soccer Tournament), an Annual
Golf Classic, the creation of an Alumni and Development
Office and the Academy’s Parent’s Association, Dr.
Kesselring has labored tirelessly in community outreach
throughout central Florida – serving in advisory
capacities on many boards and organizations as an
appointed official and trusted advisor.
Various event marketing materials and logos from partnerships that Dr. Kesselring has
established since arriving in 1999.
196

Top: MVA Parent’s Association working on a teacher appreciation dinner, 2012.
Above: Students enjoying the 2012 carnival. Left: PA Mother/Son event in 2009.
Below left: Family Fun Day, 2010. Below: Toys for Tots community toy drive, 2008.
Montverde Academy 2000s 197

His visionary leadership and direction has
spearheaded almost thirty million dollars of
infrastructural growth and cultural advancement
for the Montverde Academy school and campus
over his 12 years as Headmaster, this includes
new roads and sidewalks, outdoor maintenance
facilities, concessions, and bathroom amenities,
soccer and baseball fields, the aforementioned
new arts wing, and a $6.5 million dollar
new Athletic Complex that will assist in the
development of current athletic programs as
well as the new boys Junior Varsity Football
Athletic complex under
construction here
Right: The new athletic complex is slated to be completed in November 2012.
Below: Rendering of the complex currently under construciton.
198

team slated to begin first semester of 2012, just as
Montverde Academy will be celebrating its 100
year anniversary with a special gala event featuring
Saturday Night Live alumnus Darrell Hammond,
American operatic tenor, Ben Gulley, and Grammy
award winning musical artists Blues Traveler. The
Left: Rendering of the Centennial Plaza due to be completed at the end of Summer 2012.
gala celebrates the evolution of talents,
cooperation, and diversity that has for 100
years worked to educate and advance the
“knowledge, character, and community”
of thousands.
Left: Save the Date postcard mailed out to alumni, parents, and
friends. Above: The Welcome Page of the Montverde Academy
Centennial website, www.montverde.org/100years.
Montverde Academy 2000s 199

Book credits
We would like to acknowledge the following people in making this book possible:
200
Photo Research, Edits, Layout and Design - Charles Candelario
Narrative - George K. Karos
Graphic and Design Editor - Ginny Holm
Project Coordinator - Kalena Meyers
Editor/ Proofreader - Jennifer Box
Printed by Balfour Publishing in Dallas, Texas, in August of 2012
Balfour Representative - Susse Mabie
Account Executive - Robert Porter