Montgomery Bell Academy

Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) is a preparatory day school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Montgomery Bell Academy
Address
4001 Harding Road

Nashville
,
Tennessee
37205

United States
Coordinates36°07′44″N 86°50′13″W
Information
TypePrivate all-male college-preparatory
Motto"Fortitudo Per Scientiam."
Established1866
HeadmasterBradford Gioia
Grades7-12
GenderMale
Enrollment713
Color(s)Cardinal and Silver
MascotBig Red
NewspaperTop of the Hill, The Bell Ringer
YearbookThe Bell
Endowment$60 million
WebsiteSchool website

History

MBA was established in 1867 in the aftermath of the American Civil War. It is the successor to two well-known schools, the Western Military Institute, which Sam Davis, the "Boy Hero of the Confederacy", attended, and the former University of Nashville. The school's board operates under the corporate title, "Board of Trustees of the University of Nashville", although the university was disbanded in 1909.

From 1870 to 1875, former Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith was the chancellor of the University of Nashville, which operated both a two-year college operating as the University of Nashville, and MBA, the preparatory high school and grammar school. In 1875 a financial crisis and a donation from the Peabody Fund caused an organizational separation of the university and the preparatory school. The university was operated under a new board of trustees and used the proceeds of the Peabody Fund to operate the university under the name of Peabody Normal College, later called the George Peabody College for Teachers. The board of trustees of the University of Nashville continued to operate MBA as a preparatory school.

In 1881, the campus of MBA was moved to an estate which was at the time well west of downtown Nashville which was previously known as "Totomoi". The military nature of one of the predecessors notwithstanding, under its current name it has always operated as a civilian institution, as a day school rather than a boarding school. The school is named in honor of Montgomery Bell, a Pennsylvania native who made his fortune as the early 19th century "ironmaster" of Middle Tennessee and whose will endowed it, with the stipulation that it forever be an all-male institution.

In the 1970s, the school's enrollment surged as white parents withdrew their children from racially integrated public schools. In 1980, the headmaster Michael Drake told a newspaper "Every time the court rules in the Metro desegregation case, our enrollment goes way up."[1]

Dead Poets Society, the 1989 motion picture that featured Robin Williams, depicts a school patterned after Montgomery Bell Academy, although events in the movie were fictional. Thomas Schulman, who graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in 1968, wrote the movie's screenplay. Robin Williams portrayed a character based on Sam Pickering, one of Schulman's teachers during his MBA education.[2]

Campus and resources
The front of the Davis Building during school dismissal.

Montgomery Bell Academy's campus consists of eight academic and administrative buildings, a gymnasium, and numerous on-campus athletic facilities.

Montgomery Bell Academy also owns and operates a 24' telescope in McMinnville, Tennessee at Long Mountain. This site is noted for having the least ambient light in the Southeastern United States, making conditions favorable for astrophotography.[3] Annually, the Montgomery Bell Academy faculty and student body journey to the facility to hold the school's annual Leadership Retreat. On the facility grounds, there are two football fields, a lake, a high ropes course, and a low ropes course. The main feature of the campus (besides the observatory) is the large cliff to the west of the building. Students are challenged each year to rappel down the cliff and climb up the cliff as well. On occasion, the school's climbing club comes to the facility to practice all-natural rock climbing.

The rear view of the Carter Building.

In 2011, Montgomery Bell Academy added the new Lowry Building in late December. In 2012, the school's new building, the Wallace Building, was completed. In addition to these new structures, a geothermal heating and cooling system was added. The school has also constructed new, porous parking lots to facilitate the new irrigation system.

Montgomery Bell Academy also has exchange links with other boys' schools throughout the English-speaking world; these include Eton College and Winchester College in England, Kearsney College and Michaelhouse in South Africa, and The Southport School, The King's School, Parramatta and, most recently, Melbourne Grammar School in Australia, Christ's College, Christchurch in New Zealand and The Raffles Institution in Singapore. Winchester College and Eton College are similar to MBA through discipline, dress code, and having an all-male student body.

Notable individuals who have spoken to the student body include Michael Crichton, Ted Turner, Charles Townes, and Robert Orr, Jr.

A statue of Sam Davis was installed on the school grounds, until 2020.[4]

Athletics

In addition to its academics program, Montgomery Bell Academy offers a variety of sports for students to choose from, most notably football, basketball, baseball, soccer, and lacrosse.

The school has won the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association's football championship fourteen times, from 1915 to 2014.[5]

The school has also gained recognition for its Cross Country team. Since its inception in 1995, the team has claimed a total of thirteen state championships.[6] Most notably, the team claimed a perfect sweep in the state championship of 2010, in which all top five places were claimed by the school's runners.[7]

The school's tennis team was able to claim the state title of 2013 over the Gulliver Preparatory School by a margin of 5-to-4.[8] The team also hosts its own tennis tournament each spring, entitled the Francis Carter Invitational.[9]

The MBA Soccer Program is led by the former Coach of Waterford United (Irish Premier League), Giles Cheevers.[10] MBA Soccer captured the 2015 TSSAA Tennessee State Soccer Championship (DII-AA) with a 3-0 win over Christian Brothers High School (CBHS).[11]

Debate and forensics

In addition to its academics programs, Montgomery Bell Academy has a separate debate and forensics program. The school offers Policy Debate to its students.

Annually, Montgomery Bell Academy hosts its speech and debate tournament, the Southern Bell Forum. Recognized as one of the National Forensics League's most prestigious tournaments, the tournament is distinguished from others because of its unique ranking system, where speaker points are accounted for in the final ranking system. This system encourages teams to try to compete without losing a single round. The Billy Tate Forum is also a noted extemporaneous speech tournament.

Visual and Performing arts

The Montgomery Bell Academy theater program has won awards at the Tennessee Theater Association. The school also performs its annual student-directed one-acts in April and May, where it invites the students to write and direct their original scripts. MBA also performs its annual musical with students from the Harpeth Hall School. The high school orchestra is known as the MBA Sinfonia.

Notable alumni
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References
  1. Ivey, Saundra (August 3, 1980). "Parents Seek Something Special in Private School". The Tennessean. p. B1.
  2. Baker, K.M.; See, Jessica. "Dead Poets Society: Death of a Romantic". antiromantic.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-18. Retrieved 2015-01-18.
  3. Quinn, Erin. "The sky's the limit for Academy observatory". The Tennessean. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  4. http://fox17.com/news/local/montgomery-county-school-to-remove-confederate-soldier-sam-davis-statue
  5. "Montgomery Bell Academy". High School Football Database. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  6. "Montgomery Bell Academy Cross Country Stats". Athletics. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  7. "MBA repeats as cross country champion with perfect score". Tennessee MileSplit. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  8. "SECOND ROUND [BOYS A DIVISION] -- MONTGOMERY BELL ACADEMY 5, GULLIVER PREP 4". High School Tennis Championships. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  9. Huggins, Harold. "MBA tennis team, guests face stern tests at Francis Carter Invitational". Nashville City Paper. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  10. "Giles Cheevers: Living the American Dream". Munster Express Online. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  11. "Spring Fling soccer: MBA wins state title". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  12. "Will Bartholomew Bio - UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics". utsports.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  13. "Author event with Ridley Wills II author of Nashville Pikes, Volume Two: 150 Years Along Hillsboro Pike". parnassusbooks.net. Parnassus Books. October 30, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  14. Wood, E. Thomas; Whitehouse, Ken (June 20, 2007). "Remembering Robin Beard". The Nashville Post. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  15. Garrison, Joey (March 6, 2018). "Meet David Briley, the man who became Nashville mayor after Megan Barry's resignation". The Tennessean.
  16. "Former Chief Justice Frank Drowota dies". Cannon Courier. April 17, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  17. Daniels, Frank (August 8, 2015). "'Charismatic' John Jay Hooker has died". Tennessean.com. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  18. "Oliver D. Kuhn". The Guardian. June 16, 1923. p. 5. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  19. Sparks, Adam (March 10, 2016). "Vanderbilt, NFL great Bill Wade dies". Tennessean.com. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  • Parks, Joseph Howard, General Edmund Kirby Smith, CSA, LSU Press, 1954.
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