Glynn Academy (GA) is an American public high school in Brunswick, Georgia, United States, enrolling 1,900 students in grades 9–12. Along with Brunswick High School, it is one of two high schools in the Glynn County School System. Glynn Academy offers technical, academic, and Advanced Placement programs and is accredited by the Georgia Department of Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The school has consistently been ranked among the top public high schools in the United States by Newsweek.
Chartered by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on February 1, 1788, Glynn Academy is the second-oldest public high school outside of New England and the seventh-oldest public high school in the United States; at its inception, the school embraced all grades of primary and secondary education. The first recorded building was built in 1819 on a tract of land known as Academy Range. A new building was erected in 1840 on Hillsborough Square, the present location of the school. From 1819 to 1840, the school was known as Glynn County Academy. Because of an unsatisfactory courthouse, the county's superior and inferior courts often met at the school from 1825 to 1884. In 1889, the Annex Building was constructed, followed by the Prep Junior High School in 1909 (later annexed to the school as the Prep Building), and the Glynn Academy Building in 1923. The original 1840 structure was moved out of the city in 1915; in 2008, it was relocated to the current campus where it serves as an interpretive museum. The 1840 building itself is on the National Register of Historic Places and three other buildings (the Prep Building, 1905–09; the G.A. building, 1922; and the Annex, 1889) are contributing properties to the Brunswick Old Town Historic District.
The school, in addition to serving sections of Brunswick, serves Brookman, Blythe Island, Sea Island, and St. Simons Island. It also serves sections of Country Club Estates and Dock Junction.
History
On February 1, 1788, Glynn Academy was created by an act of the General Assembly of Georgia making it the second oldest high school in Georgia. For more than a century the name "Glynn Academy" included all grades of public school from young learners to senior high school students. In 1888, one hundred years after its founding, Glynn Academy records show a graduating class consisting of four girls and two boys.
State Titles
Baseball (1) - 1973(3A) Football (1) - 1964(3A) Boys' Golf (14) - 1981(4A), 1982(4A), 1984(4A), 1987(4A), 1988(4A), 1989(4A), 1992(4A), 1994(4A), 2000(4A), 2001(5A), 2004(5A), 2005(5A), 2011(4A), 2023(6A) Girls' Golf (9) - 2002(5A), 2004(5A), 2005(5A), 2006(5A), 2007(4A), 2010(4A), 2011(4A), 2022(6A), 2023(6A) Boys Track (1) - 1977(3A)
Other GHSA State Titles
One Act Play (1) - 2019(6A)
Campus
Buildings
Renovation of the School Buildings started in 2016. The Prep Building was renovated in 2017. The Sidney Lanier Building was renovated in 2019. The Science Building finished renovations in 2020.
Other Campus Buildings and Additional Information
Constructed in 2014, the tennis complex features 10 lighted courts — allowing Glynn Academy to host competitive tournaments — along with fencing, some additional parking spaces and a large building which holds concessions and restrooms. John Tuten was also the architect for the tennis complex.
Memorial Plaza and the Veterans Memorial Wall are both notable places that are centrally located on campus.
The building used as the previous cafeteria is serving as temporary classrooms during renovations of other buildings.
New Glynn Academy Athletic Complex
(Officially Completed in 2018) A lighted baseball field and parking lot built on the site of the current Glynn Middle School football field. A lighted softball field will be constructed south of the baseball field, along with an additional parking lot along Lanier Blvd.
On the site's southwest side, there will be a full-size football/soccer field inside a regulation 400-meter track.
A 13,000-square foot indoor batting and pitching facility will also house boy's and girl's locker rooms, a concession stand and restroom facilities.