Cape Fear Academy is a private, coeducational PK3–12 school in Wilmington, North Carolina that was established on September 11, 1967 as a segregation academy. It was named for Cape Fear Military Academy, an independent school for boys in Wilmington that operated from 1868 until 1916. The present school's first class graduated in 1971.

History

Cape Fear Academy Athletics Confederate Rebels

The school was founded as a segregation academy in response to the court ordered integration of public schools. In 1967, the civil rights activist Lee Shelton claimed that

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

was raising funds to establish Cape Fear Academy as a private school for white students. In 2005, the student body voted to change the school's athletics team name from '' The Rebels'' to ''The Hurricanes''. In 2021, Cape Fear Academy was sued by a student who alleged that CFA expelled her after she protested the school's failure to take action after she was sexually assaulted and then harassed by three male students, in violation of Title IX. The school argued that, since it never accepted federal funding, it was not subject to any federal non-discrimination laws. In June 2022, Judge James C. Dever ruled that since CFA had accepted loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, the school was obliged to comply with federal civil rights laws. The lawsuit led to renewed media attention concerning Cape Fear Academy's history of racial and gender discrimination.

Facilities

There is one Pre-kindergarten class (ages 3.5 to 5), along with Kindergarten through Grade 5, Middle School (grades 6–8) and Upper School classes (grades 9–12). The school is situated on a campus. Facilities include two classroom buildings, a gymnasium with six classrooms, and the Beane-Wright Student Center, and multiple athletic fields and a tennis facility. Additionally, athletic fields, including the John B. Meehl Field House are located across from the campus entrance on College Road on a tract. In 2022, school purchased an plot of land originally owned by Trinity United Methodist Church.

Accreditation

Cape Fear Academy is accredited by the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...

and also by the Southern Association of Independent Schools. The school is also an active member of the National Association of Independent Schools, the Southern Association of Independent Schools, the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools, the Educational Records Bureau, the Independent School Management Consortium, and the College Entrance Examination Board. Cape Fear Academy offers affordability plans for tuition; a majority of the awards go to students in the Middle and Upper School.

Student activities

Starting in seventh grade, students can play sports; 80% of students in the Upper School participate in at least one sport. Some notable athletics activities in the school are soccer, volleyball, tennis, basketball, and lacrosse. The school houses many clubs like Beta Club, National History Day, YMCA's Youth and Government, and

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...

. The school also has a theater program that produces many different genres of plays from

Musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

to Dramas. Along with the stage on the campus, the school is the only school high school allowed to perform at Thalian Hall in Wilmington. The Upper School has a student-government association with a branch called the Honor Council that deals with and makes recommendations for disciplinary infractions.

Notable alumni

* Patrick Ballantine North Carolina state senator and gubernatorial candidate * Maddie Hasson actress on

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

's ''

Twisted Twisted may refer to: Film and television * ''Twisted'' (1986 film), a horror film by Adam Holender starring Christian Slater * ''Twisted'' (1996 film), a modern retelling of ''Oliver Twist'' * ''Twisted'', a 2011 Singapore Chinese film directed ...

'' * Reginald Shuford

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

attorney, first black student to graduate

References

External links

Cape Fear Academy Alumni
{{authority control Schools in Wilmington, North Carolina Private high schools in North Carolina Private middle schools in North Carolina Private elementary schools in North Carolina Segregation academies in North Carolina Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina 1968 establishments in North Carolina Educational institutions established in 1968