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Harrisburg Academy, the 17th oldest non-public school in the country, was founded in 1784 by John Harris, Jr. in a room of his mansion, which is now the home of the Dauphin County Historical Society. Mr. Harris hired a schoolmaster from Lancaster to teach his and his neighbor’s children. Soon after, he granted “the rent, issues and profits of his ferry for the endowment of an Academy where German and English should be taught.”
On April 4, 1809, the State Legislature officially chartered the Academy under the Law of the Commonwealth as “an academy or public school for the education of youth in useful arts, sciences and literature.”
More than 225 years later, Harrisburg Academy thrives as the Harrisburg metropolitan area’s only independent, nonsectarian, coeducational day school. The Academy is made up of a diverse population of students who come from six Central Pennsylvania counties and several foreign countries.
The Academy is fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges and the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools. We are also the first school in the Harrisburg metropolitan area authorized by the prestigious International Baccalaureate Organization to offer the IB Diploma Program. The Academy is only the second school in the midstate to achieve this distinction.
This year we are celebrating the Academy’s longstanding ties to the Harrisburg area as a leading educational institution. To this end, we invite you to join The John Harris Circle, a new philanthropic society recognizing distinction in leadership giving. Members support the belief in the Academy’s vision and core values and honor the leadership of our founder and those who followed who have made the Academy an extraordinary school.
Leadership gifts through The John Harris Circle represent the Academy’s top priority for giving. Through your membership, you are preserving the integrity and value of an independent school education that makes our students thoughtful and involved global citizens.
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