UMS-Wright is an independent co-educational prep school in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

. The school was founded in 1893 as University Military School, and in 1988 it combined with Julius T Wright School for Girls (founded 1956) to form UMS-Wright Preparatory School.

History

University Military School

UMS-Wright Preparatory opened as University Military School on October 2, 1893, at 559 Conti Street. The school's founder and first headmaster was Dr. Julius T. Wright (1871–1931). The school’s opening day coincided with the

1893 Cheniere Caminada hurricane The Chenière Caminada hurricane, also known as the Great October Storm, was a powerful tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the island of Cheniere Caminada, Louisiana in early October 1893. It was one of three deadly hurricanes during the ...

. The school had a single teacher and twenty-five pupils at a

tuition Tuition may refer to: *Formal education, education within a structured institutional framework *Tutoring, private academic help *Tuition payments Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth ...

of $8 a month. Dr. Wright served as the headmaster of the school until his death in 1931. William Pape took over after Dr. Wright. Pape died in 1943 and his family turned control of the school over to a

nonprofit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation ma ...

, the UMS Alumni and Parents Association, Inc. UMS moved the school to its current location on North Mobile Street in 1956 to accommodate the growing number of students.

Girls Preparatory School

Thirty years after the opening of University Military School (an all male school) Julius T Wright opened Girls Preparatory School in 1923 to provide a similar education to the young women of the Mobile community. It only lasted eight years as it closed after the death of Dr. Wright in 1931.

Julius T. Wright School for Girls

Julius T. Wright School for Girls opened in 1956 at the same location as Girls Preparatory School at 1315 Dauphin Street, which had been newly renovated. It came after a long campaign by alumni of the original Girls Preparatory School to have a female equivalent to University Military School. The school moved to 1400 S University Blvd in 1972. It remained there until its merger with University Military School in 1988.

UMS-Wright Preparatory School

In 1988, University Military School and Julius T Wright School for Girls followed the trend of many other single-gender schools around the country and combined to form the

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

UMS-Wright Preparatory School. Dr. Tony Havard, a member of the UMS English faculty, was named the headmaster and is now the current president of the school.

Description

Structure

The school has a three-level structure: the

Lower School Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system. Terminology In a three-tier local educa ...

(K-3 through 4th grade), the

Middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

(5th grade through 8th grade), and the

Upper School Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority ...

(

9th grade Ninth grade (also 9th grade or grade 9) is the ninth or tenth year of formal or compulsory education in some countries. It is generally part of middle school or secondary school depending on country. Students in ninth grade are usually 14–15 yea ...

through

12th grade Twelfth Grade (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final Educational stage, year of Formal education, formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final ...

Campus

Located on Campus are five Lower School buildings, two middle school buildings, and one high school building. All three have separate offices and principals. The campus also houses two full-size gymnasiums, a weight training facility, and an athletic training facility. The football stadium, Cooper Stadium, is surrounded by a four-hundred meter track. Also located on Campus are two multi-purpose fields, a twenty-five-meter swimming pool, a baseball field, and a softball field.

Athletics

UMS-Wright offers thirteen team sports for students from lower school to high school. The school competes in the

AHSAA The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA), based in Montgomery, is the governing body for interscholastic athletics and activities programs for public schools in Alabama. The AHSAA is a member National Federation of State High S ...

division 4A. The Sports offered include cross country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, soccer, tennis, swimming and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

, track and field, softball, baseball,

bass fishing Bass fishing is the recreational fishing activity, typically via rod-based angling, for various North American freshwater game fishes known collectively as '' black bass''.Henshall, James A. (Dr.), ''Book of the Black Bass'', Cincinnati, OH: R ...

, and bowling. UMS-Wright also has a long-standing athletic rivalry with

St. Paul's Episcopal School St. Paul's Episcopal School is an independent, parochial, co-educational Christian preparatory school in Mobile, Alabama. Description The school has a four-level structure: the Lower School (Pre-K through 2nd grade), the Intermediate School (3r ...

, another local private high school that is just 2.2 miles away down

Old Shell Road Old Shell Road is a thoroughfare located in Mobile, a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. Old Shell Road is predominantly a two lane road, with a four lane section from Schillinger Road to University Boulevard, which was widened t ...

. In football and track and field, the two teams meet every year in the "Battle of Old Shell Road." Football Game at UMS

State titles

UMS-Wright has 156 total state championship titles: * Baseball ~ 1978 • 1988 • 1993 • 1995 • 1997 • 1999 • 2010 • 2011 • 2016 • 2017 * Boys Basketball ~ 1998 * Girls Basketball ~ 1978 * Boys Cross Country ~ 1971 • 1975 • 1980 • 1997 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 * Girls Cross Country ~ 1977 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 2004 • 2005 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 *Football ~ 1987 • 2001 • 2002 • 2005 • 2008 • 2012 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 * Boys Soccer ~ 2010 • 2011 * Swimming and Diving ~ 1997 • 2018 * Boys Tennis 1968 • 1981 • 1989 • 1990 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2006 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 * Girls Tennis 1978 • 1994 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 *Boys Outdoor Track ~ 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1990 • 1991 • 1997 • 1988 • 1999 • 2000 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 * Girls Outdoor Track ~ 1982 • 1983 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2015 • 2016 • 2018 * Boys Indoor Track ~ 1972 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1985 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2006 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 * Girls Indoor Track ~ 1981 • 1982 • 1984 • 1997 • 2001 • 2012 • 2013 * Junior High Indoor Track ~ 1968 * Boys Golf ~ 1961 • 1971 • 1980 • 1983 • 1990 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2014 • 2016 • 2017

Academics

UMS Wright was ranked second out of ninety-seven schools in

Niche.com Niche.com, formerly known as College Prowler, is an American company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that runs a ranking and review site. The company was founded by Luke Skurman in 2002 as a publisher of print guidebooks on U.S. col ...

"Best Private K-12 Schools in Alabama" ranking. The average ACT score is 30 and the average

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

score in 1360. 99% of graduating seniors attend a four-year college or university, with the 3 most popular being the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

, and the

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May 1963 and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alaba ...

. The school currently has 1,150 students enrolled with a

student-teacher ratio A student teacher or prac teacher (''practise teacher'') is a college, university, or Postgraduate education, graduate student who is teaching under the supervision of a certified teacher in order to qualify for a degree in education. Student tea ...

of 8:1.

Clubs

* Art Guild * Azalea Trail * French Club * Spanish Circle * Theatre Guild * Wright Singers * Youth Judicial Weight room

Honor Societies

Cum Laude Society The Cum Laude Society is an international organization that honors academic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa, which honors academic achievements at the university level. History The Cum Laude Society was fo ...

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized cocurricular student organizations in American high schools, with 1.4 million members. The purpose of the NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to ...

* Quill & Scroll *

Mu Alpha Theta Mu Alpha Theta () is an International mathematics honor society for high school and two-year college students. As of June 2015, it served over 108,000 student members in over 2,200 chapters in the United States and 20 foreign countries. Its main ...

Science National Honor Society Science National Honor Society is an American academic nationwide honor society focused on science for high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary school ...

* Spanish/French Honor Society * National English Honor Society * Rho Kappa Honor Society

Honor Council

The Honor Council is composed of student representatives in grades 9–12 who are elected to promote honesty and integrity.

Notable alumni

Miller Reese Hutchison Miller Reese Hutchison (August 6, 1876 – February 16, 1944) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. He developed some of the first portable electric devices, such as a vehicle horn and a hearing aid. His father was William Hutchison ...

(around 1895; there are very few records of the early UMS graduates); inventor of the

vehicle horn A horn is a sound-making device installed on motor vehicles, trains, boats, and other types of vehicles. The sound it makes usually resembles a “honk” (older vehicles) or a “beep” (modern vehicles). The driver uses the horn to warn other ...

and

hearing aid A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers ...

* Winston Groom (1961), Author of ''Forrest Gump'''''' *

Bradley Byrne Bradley Roberts Byrne (born February 16, 1955) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 1st congressional district from 2014 to 2021. Elected as a member of the state Board of Education as a Dem ...

(1973), former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

. *

Sandy Stimpson William S. "Sandy" Stimpson (born April 4, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the mayor of Mobile, Alabama since 2013. He was elected August 27, 2013, defeating incumbent Mayor Sam Jones. In 2017, Stimpson was reel ...

(1970), Mayor of Mobile, Alabama * Jay Prosch (2009), Professional

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player * Bobby Wyatt (2010), Professional golfer * Tanner Allen (2017), MLB outfielder *

Paige Madden Paige Madden (born October 22, 1998) is an American swimmer who won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay, joined by Claire Weinstein, Katie Ledecky, and Erin Gemmell at the 2024 Paris Oly ...

(2017), Olympic Swimmer *

Maddux Bruns Below is a partial list of Minor League Baseball players in the Los Angeles Dodgers system. Players Maddux Bruns Maddux John Bruns (born June 20, 2002) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Bruns ...

(2021), Pitcher in the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

organization

References

External links

* https://www.ums-wright.org {{authority control Schools accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Schools in Mobile, Alabama Preparatory schools in Alabama Educational institutions established in 1893 1893 establishments in Alabama