Mount Pisgah Academy

Mount Pisgah Academy is a four-year secondary education boarding school located in Candler, North Carolina, United States, near Asheville. The academy is named after the Mount Pisgah of biblical reference as well as its proximity to Mount Pisgah in the Blue Ridge Mountains.Affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the campus lies on 230acre of property. It was founded in 1914 as a private academy, by E.C. Waller, William Steinman, and C.A. Graves with their families, and originally called the Pisgah Industrial Institute. In 1952, its ownership was transferred to the Carolina Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist church, and it was given its present name. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second largest Christian school system.The current principal at the academy is Bernie Culpepper.For the 2008-09 school year, it had an enrollment of 165 students.AcademicsThe required curriculum includes classes in the following subject areas: Religion, English, Oral Communications, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, Health, Computer Applications, Fine Arts, and Electives.Spiritual aspectsAll students take religion classes each year that they are enrolled. These classes cover topics in biblical history and Christian and denominational doctrines. Instructors in other disciplines also begin each class period with prayer or a short devotional thought, many which encourage student input. Weekly, the entire student body gathers together in the auditorium for an hour-long chapel service. Outside the classrooms there is year-round spiritually oriented programming that relies on student involvement.