Florida Prep is a premier day and boarding school in Melbourne, Florida. We are a coeducational college-prep school for grades 5-12. Florida Prep values integrity, community, and scholarship at every level. Set in 11 acres of lush tropical landscape, the Florida Prep campus boasts a full-sized sports field, baseball nets, gymnasium, outdoor concert area, tennis courts, landscaped gardens, and many locations to gather, chat, or to seek solitude.
Our campus features a large, open grassy play area that allows for unstructured fun and activities, such as playing ball or tag, and lots of space to enjoy the company of their peers and develop social and language skills. In 1925, Ernest Kouwen-Hoven erected the first building on what is now the Florida Preparatory Academy campus. It was a magnificent Spanish Mediterranean-style mansion, complete with an authentic Art Deco interior.
He used the mansion as his home for only one year before selling it in 1926 to A.S. Widrig, who added extra rooms to it and renamed the property "The Lincoln Hotel." In 1957, The Lincoln Hotel was sold to August J. Rimer, the original owner of the Green Bay Packers. He renamed the hotel "The Barcelona."
In 1961, Mr. Rimer sold The Barcelona Hotel to Mr. Jonathan Dwight, an educator and aviation enthusiast from New Jersey. Several months later, with his wife Emmy Dwight, he founded Florida Air Academy, a military-style college preparatory school for young men.
In the fall of 2005, the Academy began accepting female students in both boarding and day capacities. The girls made an excellent contribution to the school and raised the bar academically. There have been five female valedictorians since the school became coeducational.
In 2011, Florida Air Academy celebrated its 50th Anniversary year. Four years later, in June of 2015, FAA became Florida Preparatory Academy (Florida Prep) to reflect its college preparatory identity more accurately. The AFJROTC program became an optional elective instead of a requirement. The flight program offers students the opportunity to study to obtain their private pilot's license at age 16!
The Academy is now undergoing another change in identity. In 2017 the school was purchased by a California-based investment company, New open USA. As a result, significant investment in campus technology, the expansion of the campus footprint, and dormitory refurbishment is currently underway.
Several new support programs, including SAT and ACT prep, are being introduced, and a new academic STEAM-focused curriculum, designed to utilize our new campus facilities, is in the pipeline. An active faculty recruitment drive is yielding top-class talent from within the USA and beyond. Academics, leadership, character, and preparing students for college, and a global business environment continues to be our primary focus.
Florida Prep's mission is to prepare each student for college success and beyond in a way that leads to personal wisdom and integrity, cross-cultural partnerships and a global vision, and service to others, society, and the environment.
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