Columbus Academy (CA) is a selective, independent college- preparatory school for students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. The school is located on a large, secluded campus surrounded by wooded areas in

Gahanna, Ohio Gahanna ( ) is a city situated in northeast Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 35,726 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. It was founded in 1849. ...

in the United States, 8 miles from downtown

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. The Academy was founded in 1911 by J. L. Hamill in

Bexley, Ohio Bexley is a suburban city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States. The population was 13,928 at the 2020 census. Founded as a village, the city of Bexley is a suburb of Columbus, the Ohio state capital, situated on the banks of Alum Creek nex ...

and moved to its current campus in 1968. Originally an all-boys school, it became coeducational in 1991 when the Board of Trustees decided to admit girls. From its conception, the school expanded over time to a matriculation level of 1,000 students. Columbus Academy students and alumni often refer to the school as "Academy."

Founding and Bexley campus

In 1911, a group of area businessmen founded the school to provide a local option for boys' secondary education. They adopted the independent

country day school The Country Day School movement is a movement in progressive education that originated in the United States during the late 19th century. Country Day Schools sought to recreate the educational rigor, atmosphere, camaraderie and character-building ...

philosophy that academic preparation was a cooperative effort between the school and the home. Columbus Academy's first campus was situated on along Alum Creek. Numerous additions to the "main house" were made as the number of students in grades 5-12 grew. Academy's first headmaster, Frank P.R. Van Syckel, instituted a liberal arts program and athletic instruction.

Move to current campus

After continued enrollment growth and repeated flooding along Alum Creek, the Board approved a 20-year plan for relocation. The school acquired in Gahann

(eight miles northeast of Columbus), raised funds, and built a new campus. The original five-building complex served the school well until the student body exceeded 600 boys. In the mid-'70s, the school undertook a major building program that added a lower school wing and the Schoedinger Theatre. This expansion allowed Kindergarten to be added to the school in the early 1980s. In 1991, the school became a co-educational institution. The school is situated on a secluded suburban campus. In 1999 the school built a new library reminiscent of its old Bexley, Ohio, Bexley campus, and added large additions to the theatre and Lower and Upper schools in 2004. Beginning in 2003, they added another addition, respectably larger than the last. This addition consisted of a new athletic building, new sports facilities and courts, additional parking lots, a new upper school wing, and a third library (totaling three libraries: one lower school, one middle school, and one upper school). In the 2014 - 2015 school year, a ropes course and new playground was added to the Columbus Academy campus.

Athletics

The Academy was one of the first schools in the US to field a soccer team and track team. Today, Academy students compete interscholastically and intramurally in football, soccer, track, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, lacrosse, wrestling, field hockey, swimming, cross country, and other sports.

Ohio High School Athletic Association Team State championships

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

- 1982 *

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

– 1987, 2003 * Boys Soccer – 1995 * Boys

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

– 1983, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 * Girls Golf - 2022 * Boys

Track and Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

– 1977, 1981, 2012, 2013 * Girls

Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...

– 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019

Other non-OHSAA titles

* Boys

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

- 2008, 2009, 2010 * Girls

- 2008 * Girls

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensi ...

- 1998, 2000, 2011, 2015

Accreditation & memberships

* National Association of Independent Schools * Independent Schools Association of the Central States * Ohio Association of Independent Schools * Recipient of Malone Family Foundation Award

Notable alumni

Morgan Harper Morgan Harper is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League (NRL). He previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL. Background Harp ...

- American lawyer and activist *

Martin Nesbitt Martin Hughes Nesbitt (born November 29, 1962) is an American businessman and public figure. Nesbit is co-CEO of the Vistria Group, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Nesbitt is on the boards of directors of publicly traded companies CenterPo ...

- businessman, founder and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

The Parking Spot The Parking Spot is an off-airport parking company based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1998 by Martin Nesbitt, the company grew quickly to become a distinctive brand with hundreds of millions of passengers annually. The company's first backer ...

, close personal friend of

U. S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

Todd Park Todd Park is a Korean American entrepreneur and government executive. He served as Chief Technology Officer of the United States and technology advisor for U.S. President Barack Obama. Early life and education Park was born in 1973 in Salt Lak ...

Chief Technology Officer of the United States The United States Chief Technology Officer (US CTO) is an official in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The U.S. CTO helps the President and their team harness the power of data, innovation and technology on behalf of the American people ...

, former CTO of the Department of Health and Human Services, co-founder of

athenahealth Athenahealth (stylized as athenahealth) is a private American company that provides network-enabled services for Health care, healthcare and Point of care, point-of-care mobile apps in the United States. The company was founded in 1997 in San D ...

. *

Andrew Romanoff Harlan Andrew Romanoff (born August 24, 1966) is an American politician, attorney, and academic. A Democrat, he was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009, serving as Speaker from 2005 to 2009. He was a candidate fo ...

- politician, former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives

Notable people

Jeffrey Sutton Jeffrey Stuart Sutton (born October 31, 1960) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Early life and career Sutton received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history ...

- former history teacher and soccer coach; judge for the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...

External links

Columbus Academy web siteNational Association of Independent Schools

References

{{authority control Preparatory schools in Ohio Educational institutions established in 1911 Gahanna, Ohio High schools in Franklin County, Ohio Private high schools in Ohio Private middle schools in Ohio Private elementary schools in Ohio 1911 establishments in Ohio