Montverde Academy

The school was founded in 1912 as Montgomery Industrial School. The school President was Henry P. Carpenter. It underwent a major expansion in 1921, when two new buildings were built for a cost of almost $40,000, including a concrete block dormitory for 200 boys and a new dining hall. The expansion was funded by donations, including $11,000 from R. Jay Arnold of Groveland, Florida. This expansion brought the organization to a total of 8 buildings on 200 acres and $150,000 worth of equipment. An observation tower above the new dormitory provided a view of Lake Apopka, Winter Garden, and Groveland. The dining facilities served 400 children.[3] In the 1920s, sports teams were established. The teams used were nicknamed The Crackers. In 1930, a girls dormitory was constructed with funds raised by the D.A.R.[4]

There were 1,188 K-12 students enrolled in 2015–2016 as the information is not compiled for Pre-K students. The breakdown was:[1]

• Native American/Alaskan – 1.4%
• Asian/Pacific islanders – 4.0%
• Black – 7.7%
• Hispanic – 9.3%
• White – 44.8%
• Multiracial – 32.8%

Montverde's athletic programs compete on a national level, rather than as a member of the Florida State High School Athletic Association. Sports offered include baseball, basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, lacrosse, powerlifting, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

In 2017 USA Today named Montverde Academy the best basketball program of the decade.[5]

1972 advertisement for Montverde Academy

In May 2017, Essence and Fox 35 Orlando published a story about Montverde Academy harassing a 16-year-old African-American student who was told that her natural hair was against dress code policy.[6][7] The school's headmaster, Kasey Kesselring, promised that the "dread lock" line would be removed from the hair policy in the student handbook.[7]

In 2007, Montverde Academy was sued for not returning $36,000 for tuition and boarding fees for the 2007–08 school year after expelling a Russian student who was allegedly spotted with alcohol, without giving the student an opportunity to contest the truth of the allegations.[8]

• Precious Achiuwa (born 1999), Nigerian college basketball player
• Solomon Alabi (born 1988), Nigerian professional basketball player[9]
• Scottie Barnes (born 2001), American college basketball player
• RJ Barrett (born 2000), Canadian professional basketball player
• James Bell (born 1992), American basketball player
• Marcel Ponitka (born 1997), Polish professional basketball player
• Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American professional basketball player
• Cade Cunningham (born 2001), American college basketball player
• Oumar Diakhite (born 1993), Senegalese professional soccer player
• Joel Embiid (born 1994), Cameroonian professional basketball player
• Michael Frazier II (born 1994), American professional basketball player
• Patricio Garino (born 1993), Argentinian professional basketball player
• Kasey Hill (born 1993), American professional basketball player
• Dakari Johnson (born 1995), American professional basketball player
• Francisco Lindor (born 1993), Puerto Rican professional baseball player[10]
• Sandro Mamukelashvili (born 1999), Georgian college basketball player
• Luc Mbah a Moute (born 1986), Cameroonian professional basketball player
• Andrew Nembhard (born 2000), Canadian college basketball player
• Landry Nnoko (born 1994), Cameroonian professional basketball player
• Haukur Pálsson (born 1992), Icelandic professional basketball player[11]
• Ruslan Pateev (born 1990), Russian professional basketball player
• Anthony Pérez (basketball) (born 1993), Venezuelan professional basketball player[12]
• Filip Petrušev (born 2000), Serbian college basketball player
• D'Angelo Russell (born 1996), American professional basketball player
• Matheus Silva (born 1996), Brazilian professional soccer player
• Ben Simmons (born 1996), Australian professional basketball player
• Rejjie Snow (born 1993), Irish hip hop artist[13]
• Devin Williams (born 1994), American professional basketball player
• L. D. Williams (born 1988), American professional basketball player
• Pavel Zakharov (born 2001), Russian college basketball player

• Official website