Jefferson Preparatory School - Patriot Yearbook (Pine Bluff, AR)

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' ii'--,L -ff'-' 'T' Y- '-..L'T'1 -Nm s - . !. i V.-axe-g-... ' 1 MAH W F , . V sl Qi FU. .. 2 .ii H ln February of 1971, a group of parents in the Pine Bluff area conceived the idea of establishing a college pre- paratory school. From among this group of interested parents, a Steering Committee , consisting of Ben W. Martin, Mitchell Bonds, Joe Cook, jack Hatcher, Stanley Cook, jr. , and Talbot Benton was elected. These men accepted the challenge of establishing a college preparatory school, and on February 8, 1971, they voted to name this new educational institution jefferson Academy. A twenty-acre site at the intersection of Hazel and Ridgeway Roads was selected that spring on which two class- room buildings, large enough to accommodate three hundred students, were erected and furnished. The fall of 1971 saw an enrollment of 201 students with Dr. Dudley Heath as the school's first headmaster.

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77? Z9 THE PATRIOT - VOLUME VIII JEFFERSON PREPARA TOR Y SCHOOL PINE BLUFE ARKANSAS

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JEFFERSO PREP. A DREAM COME TR UE USO h H I so U ... la - . A gigurseze + :ru ,Y-H Q af ff ln April of 1972, the Board of Directors employed Mr. William R. Garrison as headmaster. By the summer of 1972, the enrollment had increased to 250. A Montessori School was added and twenty-five students were enrolled by August of 1972. A gymnasium complex was constructed that year. Funds were appropriated for the construction of a new building to house the Montessori and Lower School. ln 1975, the Cook Building was completed. Mr. Webster C. Reyner was hired as headmaster in 1977. He had previously been the headmaster of St. Paul's Episcopal School in Mobile, Alabama. This fall, enrollment is up, and in the words of Mr. Reyner, ' 'Our philosophy is to provide an education that will serve both as a strong preparation for college and a stimulus to the pursuit of knowledge and Lmderstanding through- out life . ' ' 1