Indian Springs School

Indian Springs School is an 8th-12th grade boarding and day school at 190 Woodward Drive, at the base of Oak Mountain in Indian Springs, Shelby County.

History

Indian Springs School was founded in 1952 by Birmingham businessman Harvey G. Woodward, who left the funds and instructions for creating the school in his will at his death in 1930. In some ways, his vision was a progressive one. Woodward wanted to make the school available to both Alabama's elite and rural poor. He instructed that the school should champion a holistic approach to learning (the school's motto is "Discere Vivendo," or "Learning Through Living"). During its first years, the school was a working farm which the students tended, although this element was shortly eliminated. However, Woodward also stipulated that the school would only admit white male gentiles as students. These restrictions have all been challenged and abolished.

Indian Springs opened with ten staff members and 60 students. The first director of the school was Louis E. Armstrong. He made several changes to Woodward's original plans for the school, most notably Woodward's request that the school not be prepatory.

By the 1970s, the school had grown to include equal numbers of day students and boarders. An 8th grade was added, and the school became coeducational in 1975.

Indian Springs School was the first boarding school in America and the first school in the Southeast to be recognized by the Malone Family Foundation with a $2-million grant to underwrite tuition and other expenses for gifted students whose families could not otherwise afford an independent school.

In 2005, Indian Springs School had 274 students from 12 states and 7 countries, 76% of whom were day students and 24% of whom were boarders. There were 136 girls and 138 boys.

Notable Springs Alumni

• George A. LeMaistre, Alabama Civil Rights activist
• John Badham, director
• John Green, author
• Daniel Alarcon, author

References

• Jones, Pam (Summer 2005) "Where There's a Will: The Story of Indian Springs School". Alabama Heritage Magazine, Number 77, pp. 26-33. - accessed July 25, 2006

External links

• Indian Springs School website
• Indian Springs pages compiled by M. D. Smith (Class of 1959)]