Admiral Farragut Academy - Review #9

Admiral Farragut Academy is a military naval preparatory high school located on the water in St. Petersburg, Florida. The cadets wear uniforms, learn leadership and organizational skills, and are extremely well-prepared upon graduation for higher education.

The best thing to happen to me was earning a full Navy Scholarship to attend college. My educational foundation in high school prepared me for college. I served five years in the Navy and another twenty-six in the Coast Guard. Farragut laid the foundation for my naval career.

Advice: Make friends, stay busy, study hard, participate in extracurricular activities, exercise, and go out of your way to help others. More advice: Farragut is a military school. Be prepared to wear uniforms, cut your hair, make your bed, clean your room, and learn basic military drill (drill emphasizes team work).

It made me comfortable living in a military environment and helped shape my career.

Military schools aren't necessarily for students planning on joining the military. Farragut introduced me to excellent study habits and organizational skills that benefited me later in life.

Farragut has a solid academic program. I liked learning to sail and water-related activities. I enjoyed the Maritime Science program where I learned navigation and safe boating regulations. The regular academic classes were small. I did well academically, but teachers were always available to help and there were mandatory evening study periods for students needing academic help.

I liked having a swimming pool on campus. Our basketball team was undefeated the year I attended. Our Athletic Program included most sports; football, soccer, golf, tennis, baseball, and basketball. If you didn't play a varsity sport, you could play intramural sports and represent your company (which was highly encouraged).

We had a Band Company, but I didn't play a musical instrument. Our band performed at most sporting events and participated in parades.

The extracurricular activity I liked most at Farragut was sailing and boating. It was extremely relaxing to be sailing on Boca Ciega Bay during the afternoon after class.

I was a boarding student for two years at Farragut. I had one roommate. Each room had a bathroom. We had set hours that we went to bad and got up. Students could select roommates. Our rooms were inspected and had to be clean and orderly.

As a Corps of Cadets, we formed up three times a day during the week and marched to breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had many choices at most of the meals. The food was good and you could eat as much as you wanted. There was no assigned seating. We sat with our friends.

I liked being in Florida and close to the beaches. St. Petersburg is very scenic and the winters aren't cold. There were malls, movie theaters and lots of great restaurants nearby.

Boarding students made strong friendships. Many of the students were from all over the United States, including some foreign students. There was quite a bit of diversity. One of the students was the Prime Minister's son from Thailand.