Grand River Academy

Our guest speakers will be Kristen Kitchen, Director of Advancement, and David Thomas, Alumni Relations and Admissions Associate, for Grand River Academy (GRA).

GRA is a private college preparatory boarding and day school that helps young men activate their academic, emotional, and social potential and prepares them for lifelong success. Established in 1831, GRA’s private boarding school has celebrated 185 years of education for young men in grades 8-12, and is nationally recognized as one of the few remaining boarding schools of its kind in the United States. 

GRA offers a distinguished non-military, nonsectarian, all-male college preparatory education that continues to make strides in developing the total young man.

Grand River Academy is one of the oldest private boarding schools in Ohio. Its history dates back to 1831, when benefactor Dr. Orestes K. Hawley endowed a school with a building and several acres of land on the banks of the Grand River. The school’s founders articulated a philosophy that values physical, intellectual, and moral education that continues to this day. The school (then known as Grand River Institute) was moved to its present location in 1835, when a building that was on the river bank was transported to land in Austinburg after a substantial gift from Joab Austin “lured the school into town.” The actual move was accomplished by 100, 200, or 300 oxen, depending on who tells the story.

Today, that location in the small rural community of Austinburg, Ohio, allows for a harmonious blend of the traditional past and the practical present. The Academy’s curriculum is college preparatory, with an emphasis on helping 115 students who can benefit from the individual attention, both in class and out, and that gives all students the chance to gain real identity.