NFA: Honoring 168 Years

Submitted by Keith Fontaine '78

What is NFA? Ask some random person at your local grocery store and you’ll probably hear something like, “Great high school. My kids go there.” Which is all most people may need to know. But what makes NFA different ― and what if you want to know more?

Technically, Norwich Free Academy is defined as “an independently governed, privately endowed regional day academy.” That doesn’t sound very interesting. Better, maybe, to think of NFA as “a private school with a public purpose.”

That’s right: A privately-run school. In fact, NFA is a great example of a public-private partnership that extends to its founding 170 years ago. Since 1854, the school has been governed by an independent board of trustees. Because these members of the communities that serve NFA are independent of politics, they can have a single focus: providing academic opportunities for students from surrounding towns and beyond.

Independent secondary schools have never been plentiful ― and today, NFA is one of the few remaining such institutions in the nation. The difference is worth understanding.

There’s a reason NFA can offer so much more ― like 50 athletic teams, 75 clubs and activities, 45 college-credit classes, and a course catalog with more than 250 offerings, including a renown visual and performing arts program and seven world languages.

NFA’s independent governance is supported by a private endowment ― a source of financial support that also dates to the academy’s earliest days. Donations to the NFA Foundation support programs (like textbooks, technology, and academic, athletic and cultural activities); student scholarships and awards (more than $750,000 a year); and operating support, to reduces partner district tuition, of $1.89 million this year alone.

NFA promises its students that they will have access to the learning, skills and experiences to achieve post-secondary success – in college, in the workplace, in life. It’s a promise that independent governance and private endowment can deliver on.

So, what is NFA? Yes, it’s a great high school. It’s also unique, and has been so since its founding. See for yourself: https://www.nfaschool.org/