Southern Preparatory Academy Report: Scholarship Banquet to JROTC RangerFest

April held 'back to back' Southern Preparatory Academy (https://southernprepacademy.org/about/) events I've written much about this Spring. Friday evening's [4-24-26] 6th Annual Board of Trustees Scholarship Banquet filled the Marriott Grand National Ballroom in Opelika, where Col. Corey Ramsby addressed SoPrep's progress through its 'Winter at Valley Forge' into a strengthened cohort for the 2026-27 academic year. Video premiered at the Banquet (viewable at https://youtu.be/FapslyvFOOoo) opens with what one may think they see taking a look at The Southern... a Prep School, uniforms, a storied history, a checklist for college, etc. then shepherds the viewer into how SoPrep is reconfiguring toward their traditional mission.

Senior Dion Stanley anchors the video clip. He's accepted an offer from University of Alabama at Birmingham to study journalism with an emphasis in sports broadcasting, having spent his SoPrep years calling play-by-play football, MCing pep rallies, announcing basketball starting lineups and serving as student government president. The closing line, "Southern Prep is more than a school," rang true to a room among those working hard toward that end. Donor support, applications, and student retention all moved in the right direction this cycle; the Scholarship Banquet remains the place where those who care about SoPrep gather, break bread, and (re)commit for another year.

Saturday morning's [4-25-26] RangerFest opened with threatening weather rolling across the region. A calendar of other local events over the same hours (at Auburn, etc.) impacted turnout. SoPrep remains one of a dozen remaining prep schools in the nation with a Corps of Cadets (military) program, located at Camp Hill just off US Hwy 280 in East Central Alabama. Difficult to pen words which convey the gratitude from President Ramsby, faculty and students for the support from the Alabama Legislature (taxpayers) and all the private donors [https://secure.qgiv.com/for/southernpreparatory/] small and large, military/veteran, alumni and civilian shepherding SoPrep through this lean and difficult time of transition. In this strong Spirit, a slimmer than forecasted RangerFest crowd did not attenuate the day. Those in attendance got the campus and ceremony they came to see.

The East Central JROTC Raider competition was the day's headline and a great success by any measure. Seven regional schools participated/received their awards at The Southern.

● Southern Preparatory Academy (host)

● Grissom High School

● Benjamin Russell High School

● Columbus High School

● Smiths Station High School

● Columbia High School

● Bob Jones High School

Anyone who's witnessed a Raider heat knows the discipline, conditioning and team carry required of high school cadets. Six regional programs traveling to a single campus threatening rain on a late April Saturday is the sort of regional momentum The Southern has been working to rebuild. Col. Ramsby's staff and SoPrep Cadets handled 'host duties' with the bearing one expects from their long distinguished campus.

The Classic Car Cruise In rolled up Ward Circle as planned, the Arts and Crafts Vendor Fair, Summer Camp Showcase, food trucks and Campus Open House all ran from 10:00am to 3:00pm, the 5K stepped off at 8:00am, the 10U Junior Freestyle Wrestling bracket ran its day and the Speech Competition for 9th through 12th graders did its work in the late morning. My bride's '79 El Camino was the least impressive in the show, but nonetheless treasured getting a pic of Col. Ramsby by the old Camino.

An esteemed alumnus now serving on the Board coined the phrase, "no longer a place of detention; now a school of retention," shown brightly on campus at RangerFest, harkening back to the founding as Southern Industrial Institute. The Southern's noteworthy early history includes Lyman Ward's correspondence with George Washington Carver of Tuskegee on agronomy/livestock and Booker T. Washington's championing of agricultural and industrial training as a path out of poverty for the South's black population while Ward pursued the same effort for whites, recounted on p. 43 of Jerri Beck's Their Country's Pride on the Academy's Centennial. The 'plowshares into swords and vice versa' framing Alumnus Maj. Bill Roughton has stressed these past years was genuinely on display that Saturday... Cadets and other JROTC paraded on the same grounds where Ward once taught farming and the trades.

The next SoPrep Report will turn to Summer Programs at The Southern, the Academic Mini-Mester running from June 1 through July 17 for students entering grades 9 through 12, and the themed Summers at Southern day and boarding camps on the Camp Hill campus. Honors credit, credit recovery, ACT preparation and a summer campus full of Cadets-in-the-making are worth carrying into June and something to (re)consider for a child or grandchild looking for purposive activities between school years. Sierra Vickrey remains the contact person at 256-827-9556 or sierra.vickrey@southernprepacademy.org and as always https://southernprepacademy.org/giving-funds/ remains the link for a gift while The Southern continues its rebuild.

Getting through this difficult winter of transition in the Spirit of the winter endured at Valley Forge is becoming more promising each day. A Banquet on Friday followed by RangerFest on Saturday is what that promise looks like in practice. A crucial moment of great suffering and sacrifice, many historians consider Valley Forge the birth of our professional military, which morphed into a force stronger and united to defeat the greatest military of the era to repulse hegemonic mercantilism, sucking the marrow out of a people longing for liberty.

The Southern continues that Spirit of sacrifice... striving to regain and maintain Liberty by teaching our youth well with our support. Alabama Gazette readers include many who venerate our military history, filled with honour and sacrifice. Southern Preparatory Academy is a way to support future generations by donating money, time, and even getting children/grandchildren to consider attending SoPrep. A wet Saturday with seven JROTC programs on the field is a fitting reminder that the rebuild is real.

In conclusion, I submit a final illustration of SoPrep success: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH4glmMj2zc, the 2024 Valedictory Address by Cadet Sean Turner. Starting at the Academy in the 10th grade, Sean set his sights on becoming Valedictorian. Among his many impressive accolades and achievements, Sean also earned an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. I have no doubt more success of this sort to come with more support of this blessed endeavour at The Southern, Deo volente.

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