Cary Academy

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Cary Academy is a private middle and upper school in Cary, North Carolina established in 1996. In September 2004, the United States Department of Education named Cary Academy one of 255 public and private schools that had won its No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon award since the inception of the program. This award is given to high performing schools and to schools that show significant improvement in performance.

The motto of Cary Academy is "Discovery, Innovation, Collaboration, and Excellence." The school's mascot is the Charger; the school's colors are blue and gold. During the 2006-2007 academic year, Cary Academy will be commemorating its tenth-year anniversary.

Cary Academy was founded by James and Ann Goodnight and John and Ginger Sall. Dr. Goodnight and Dr. Sall were co-founders of SAS Institute. As such, the school places a heavy emphasis on the use of technology in the classroom. Starting in the 2006-2007 school year, the school will transfer to Tablet PC for all students. Architecture for the school buildings is neoclassical, with ornate columns at entrances. it was modeled after the University of Virginia, and was designed by Cherry Huffman architects of Raleigh, North Carolina. Several buildings make up the campus: Middle School, Upper School, Administration, Fine Arts, Student Center (cafeteria), Fitness Center, and the Sports and Education Annex. Approximately 300 students are in the middle school and 400 students are in the upper school. Faculty-to-student ratio is approximately 1:15.

1 Athletics
- 1.1 Cross Country
2 Arts
3 External links

[edit] Athletics

Cary Academy is a member of the Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference and the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association. In 2006, the Varsity Girls' Cross Country team won the state championships, and the Varsity Girls' Basketball team came in second.

[edit] Cross Country

The Cary Academy Cross Country program is widely recognized as the leading program in the Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference (TISAC). Cary Academy is a private college prepatory school emphasizing the use of technology and located in Cary, NC. The Cross Country program has won many awards for the school, including five state runner-up titles and one state champion title for the girls' team.

[edit] The program

The Cary Academy Chargers began competing in the fall of 1997. Their conference, TISAC, is one of several 3A conferences recognized by the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA). The team trains on the trails of the SAS campus in Cary, since SAS founded Cary Academy and shares some of its resources with the school, as well as in nearby Umstead Park. The team typically trains and races together from August until the end of October; summer and winter training are individual commitments sometimes informally organized by the captains or by alumnus coach Bryan Fisher, since per NCISAA regulations official summer and winter training are strongly limited. At the end of summer training Cary Academy has historically sent some athletes to the All-American Cross Country Camp held in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. The fall is Cross Country season, and Winter training takes place on the Cary Academy trails in small, individually organized groups. In the spring most Cross Country athletes participate in the Varsity Track program, although several female runners are members of the Women's Varsity Soccer team instead. Individual records for the 5k (3.1 mi) course, which is typically run by high school athletes, are held by Ryan Jamiolkowski (16:27 at the SAS Soccer Park) set in 2004 and by Rachel Park (19:10 at Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro) set in 2006 for the men's and women's teams respectively.

Head coach for both the women's and the men's teams is currently Conrad Hall, who has held the position since 1998. He also teaches American History at Cary Academy, and devotes large portions of his time to his students inside the classroom and to his athletes on the trails, both in practice and, when possible, in off-season training. He is assisted by Coach Kim Jones, a French teacher who has worked with the program for the past two years. Joining the coaching staff for the first time in the fall of 2006 was Bryan Fisher. Fisher graduated from Cary Academy in 2003 after contributing much to the program as an athlete, including a victory in the 1600 meter run at the 2003 NCISAA meet. He is also part of the Class of 2007 at UNC. The Cross Country team is known for the many alumni who come back regularly to run with the team, as well as to work meets, run in the annual Alumni Meet, or simply cheer the athletes on.

[edit] Women's varsity cross country

The 2006 women's team is a hard working team and competes at the elite level of all high school Cross Country teams in North Carolina. At the peak of their season, they were ranked within the top 10 schools in the state in any division. They most recently received the state runner-up award in the 3A independent schools championship.

Awards for the women's team include:

2006 TISAC Champions
2006 NCISAA Runners-up

2005 TISAC Champions
2005 NCISAA Champions

[edit] Men's varsity cross country

While the men's team does not compete at the level that the women's team does, they are well recognized in the state among all high school teams. They have a reputation for stepping up and helping each other out when needed; this has been cited to explain why despite being considered "rebuilding teams" at the beginning of both the 2005 and 2006 seasons but performed in the top 3 at the state championship. They most recently stepped up their performance in the NCISAA state meet when they lost their #2 runner but still ran a strong race to beat Charlotte Latin by a very close 3 points.

Awards for the men's team include:

2006 TISAC Champions
2006 NCISAA Runners-up

2005 TISAC Champions
2005 NCISAA 3rd place

2002 NCISAA Runners-up

2001 NCISAA Runners-up

2000 NCISAA Runners-up

[edit] Team Facts

The Cross Country team is generally considered at Cary Academy as a fairly close group of people who have lots of fun but tend to exemplify academic and athletic excellence. They are also known for their unique team culture, including the tradition of travelling to Bojangles' after meets. Members who have gone on to run varsity cross-country in college include Bryan Fisher at UNC, Ryan Misjan at Virginia Tech, and Ryan Jamiolkowski at Harvard.

[edit] Further information

For more information, see the team's website at www.carunning.com[1].

[edit] Arts

Cary Academy's Fine and Performing Arts department which has put on multiple theatrical productions, instrumental and choral music concerts, visual art exhibitions, and modern dance performances since its initiation. Past theatrical performances include: