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General News: NYMA Gets $5 Million Invested in Future
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| An aerial view of the NYMA campus |
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| NYMA cadets are a familiar sight in Cornwall parades |
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| NYMA's founder Charles Jefferson Wright |
February 15, 2008
The New York Military Academy is not closing. In fact, the school’s board of trustees today rallied behind the 119-year-old institution and announced that $5 million will be invested in NYMA’s future.
School superintendent Captain Robert Watts said that the school, which provides a military-style preparatory school education, "remains a fully functional school of distinction and will be open for business this year, next year, and many years into the future."
Trustee Robert McGowan explained that the board received substantial pledges today from a number of alumni who want to build an effective development program to guarantee the school’s future growth. He also said some of that money will be used to re-inforce operational parts of the school.
He noted that Donald Trump, the entrepreneur, could be expected to become part of the conversation during the next round of pledges. “The Donald is always concerned that his name be associated with successes,” McGowan noted.
McGowan said that rumors about the school closing got started because the trustees could not agree until today on how to move ahead. “We had an internal dispute,” McGowan said, “and until we were 100% behind the plan, we had silence. That silence caused people to speculate.”
McGowan says the school does face a $2.1 million debt with the Bank of America, which has its owns credit problems that made negotiations difficult. The commitment of $5 million today should alleviate any concerns about NYMA’s financial viability, McGowan said.
He also noted that the school can now re-assure current applicants that the institution is not only open for business but has a bright future.
“We expect to have more cadets on campus next year than we do today,” he said.
The school currently has 172 cadets and advertises a student-teacher ratio of 12:1. While following an JROTC curriculum, the vast majority of graduates (97%) work in the private sector.
The school has been a pillar of Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson life since it was established in 1889 by Civil War veteran Charles Jefferson Wright. It sits on an 130-acre campus on Academy Avenue, Route 218, which straddles Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson. Wright opened the school in a rambling summer house known as the Glen Ridge House, which later burned down. (Click here for a tour of buildings that once stood on the campus.)
Two of the schools private residences have been on the market since December 2006. McGowan said the homes would still be sold and that cash could be applied to on-campus facilities, several of which are in need of maintenance.
Comments:
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I know that money drives the train; however, with proper leadership NYMA will not only stay open, but thrive.
posted by Stephen Torelli on 02/15/08 at 2:27 PM
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McGowan said that rumors about the school closing got started because the trustees could not agree until today on how to move ahead. ?We had an internal dispute,? McGowan said, ?and until we were 100% behind the plan, we had silence. That silence caused people to speculate.?
Actually, graduates did not speculate...an email was sent out to all alumni of the Academy from board member Harry Judge, that was what started the controversy. Just to set the record straight. NYMA announced within 48 afterwards, that the alumni came to the rescue of the famous school.
posted by Eric Shore on 05/10/09 at 5:45 AM
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