Tradition and Change

Rebranding the New York Military Academy

by Kelley Granger, September 28, 2010

Courageous and gallant men have passed through these portals.

So reads an inscription above a doorway looking over the quad on the campus of the New York Military Academy, a college preparatory school for day and boarding students in grades 7 through 12 in Cornwall-on-Hudson. Inside that doorway in the administration building, one will find halls covered with black-and-white photos of notable alumni since the academy’s founding in 1889 by Charles Jefferson Wright, a Civil War veteran and school teacher. Those same doorways opened to women in 1975, when the institution became coeducational.

As grand and long as the history may be, something may still feel amiss during a visit. It’s somewhat jarring to see the property, given its close proximity to prestigious West Point and with wealthy alumni like Donald Trump. It feels a bit like a ghost town. On a typical afternoon, you may only encounter half a dozen students on their way in from athletics practice on the entire 140-acre campus. Some dormitory buildings are completely vacant, and the current boys’ dorms appear worn on the exterior, paint flaking from years of inattention. A 30-stall equine facility sits vacant in disuse, except for the storage it was being used for. A huge girls’ dorm is occupied by only eight students.

Still, upon closer inspection, you’ll see that these are the very things Major Jeffrey Coverdale, the interim superintendent who took the reins just this past July, is adamant about changing. He and a new administration team are preparing to take the academy from the brink of closure and overhaul it, inside and out.

A Second Life
Just this past May, The New York Times reported that the NYMA was facing indefinite closure after years of financial troubles. The school needed at least $7 million to turn things around and keep its doors open. The situation was so dire that the academy’s director of admissions had to place calls to parents of cadets and help them find alternate placements for their children in the upcoming academic year.

Among other issues, including low enrollment and the economic climate, the article pointed a finger at NYMA alumni for a share of the financial troubles. “Still, the most galling and perhaps damning thing for NYMA is that its own alumni have never been loyal financial supporters,” the story stated. It’s a point that vexes Coverdale. After all, it was actually the alumni who were mostly responsible for finding the means to save the school from closure by bringing investors to the plate, who have helped set the school on a more sustainable track and have provided the financial resources to start revamping the campus and the curriculum.

“Too many times it was said that the alumni didn’t support the academy but I really feel like we didn’t get the alumni involved in the school enough,” says Coverdale. In the past, Coverdale believes NYMA didn’t work well enough with its alumni to keep the legacy of the school going. It’s not about just consistently asking them for their money—it’s about showing them that the school is changing with the times to focus on quality education and involving them so they understand the changes that are needed in the programs to make the school successful. “I remember we had a contingent go down and ask [alumni] Donald Trump about supporting the school and one of the statements he made was that he felt that military schools were obsolete, or something to that effect,” says Coverdale. “And he was part right. If you stay in the old mold of the military schools, then you’re going to become obsolete. Military schools are just as valid today as they were yesterday, but you have to change some components of them.”