Believing that character, health, and knowledge were the pillars of success, Colonel Woodward began the building of what would come to be a great school with these three ideals in view. He had in mind an ideal which would be realized by combining the good qualities of the best schools in the country and by attempting to eradicate all factors which were not beneficial to a student body.

As early as 1908, perhaps even earlier, students knew of Colonel Woodward's dreams. The editor of the 1908 yearbook Parade Rest commented that the object of Georgia Military Academy was to build perfect men - mentally, morally, and physically. The mental and moral, Colonel Woodward believed, could be easily managed by securing a faculty of ladies and gentlemen who were well able to teach. The physical well-being of the boys would be left to Colonel Woodward himself who recognized that military life was the best training to produce good health, strength, endurance, self-reliance, and self- control.

Character, he reasoned, could be best developed in the cadets not only by close contact with the right kind of teachers and coaches, but also by establishing a program of work to keep all boys active.

The Academy's first effort, therefore, was to make for its students a well- ordered, sympathetic, but strickly-guarded home life. Unlike most military schools where living quarters were simply enclosures of four walls (a barracks plan), Georgia Military Academy fashioned its buildings like modern homes, set attractive distances apart, and with inviting verandas, plazas, courts, and playgrounds surrounding the buildings. All buildings were specially arranged for this grouping system, and each teacher was provided with living quarters for his family and a group of about twelve cadets.

The school's program of work required that all cadets participated in play activities and drill, thereby insuring the development of strong bodies. In earlier years, Colonel Woodward assumed, by himself, these programs and continued their supervision until the number of cadets required additional teachers and coaches.

From the very beginning of Georgia Military Academy, Colonel Woodward attempted to impress upon the young students of the Academy the importance of acquiring those qualities which constituted the gentleman. Everyday, for many years, after afternoon tea, the cadets would assemble in the parlors to meet one another and the teachers socially. For one half hour, music, games, dancing, and other activities were shared. The exercises were intended to refine, elevate, and enrich the boys' social nature and to serve as proper relaxation from study.

Occasionally, formal social receptions were given for parents, friends, and distinguished guests, and the students were required to assist as hosts. On these occasions, students were able to meet the leading men and women of the community and taught how to be "Southern Gentleman."

Once a week at the "At Home Evenings", the school was open to parents and friends, and a formal program of music, readings, or lectures by men and women of distinction was rendered. Often, young ladies from nearby Cox College and from Agnes Scott College were invited to these programs. The cadets, in turn, visited those schools for social and literary programs and attended many concerts and operas at Cox College and in Atlanta.

Almost without exception, everyday began with a chapel service starting as early as 7:30 in the morning. The Cadet Corps, which included a small number of day students who had arrived on campus in time for the Chapel Formation, would march, company by company, platoon by platoon, into the chapel area. Once inside and settled at attention, the Corps would be seated. The service would be opened with a song and followed by responsive Bible readings and prayer.

The school, non-sectarian in its make-up, was, however, Christian in its influences; and Colonel Woodward usually took charge of the service. One of the founders and an elder in the College Park Presbyterian Church, Colonel Woodward would often sermonize. He, at times, seemed as much a preacher as a teacher.

Colonel and Mrs. Woodward made several trips to the Holy Land and each time returned with glass lantern slides of their visit. Many alumni recall how, as young cadets, they detested viewing those slides and hearing those lectures over and over again. The Colonel was that type of person, however, and the Corps, at least not publically, never showed signs of disapproval.

The lectures were not limited to matters of Christian ideals. They would often take the form of talks on sex, table manners, "how to study," and the like.

These chapel services continued throughout Colonel Woodward's life, and occasionally other members of the faculty and administration would conduct the chapel. In the early years, Colonel Nash and Colonel West held the services. Colonel Brewster, after he became president of the school, continued the lectures with, perhaps, even more zeal.

Where Colonel Woodward appeared calm and gentle, yet decisive, with his talks, Colonel Brewster was more bombastic, direct, and vivid in his the approach.

The teachings of Christian ideals and manners went beyond the daily chapel service. On Sundays, all cadets were required to attend Sabbath-School and church at the church of their choice in the College Park area.

Again, the corps would be formed in their military church formations, with the cadets in full military uniforms, and would march, each cadet keeping cadence as called by the church-squad leaders, to one of the churches in town. Once inside the church, the cadets would stand at attention at their assigned rows until their squad leader gave the order to sit.

The full West Point-type uniforms of the cadets had many large buttons on both the front and back parts of their coats; and, as the cadets would begin to sit, the uniform buttons hitting the backs of the pews would sound like several volleys from machine guns. During the services, with each standing and sitting as practiced within the ceremonies, the volley of buttons would continue.

It was rumored that the ministers and the music people in the churches were influenced to change the practice of standing and sitting so much because of the noise caused by the buttons.

After church services and lunch, the Cadet Corps would be formed for the usual Sunday parades. As hundreds of parents, relatives, girl friends, and citizens of College Park gathered in the reviewing stands and along the edges of the parade field, the Corps would march proudly in review. On many occasions, visiting dignitaries were honored by the Corps in special parade reviews. One such review was a visit by President Calvin Coolidge.

Many of the cadets of the late nineteen twenties recall their visit and parade in the nation's capital in 1927 when the statue of Alexander Stephens was to be unveiled in Statuary Hall. Georgia's Governor L.G. Hardeman requested that his official staff accompany the group from Georgia attending this ceremony. Colonel Woodward, who had been a member of the Governor's official staff for twenty years and who was at that time the Chief of the Governor's Staff, arranged to have the Georgia Military Academy Cadet Corps act as escort for the official party.

There were many occasions when the cadets would awaken in the mornings, and the dormitories would be filled with the aroma of cooking barbecue. The evening before, after a large pit had been prepared, pigs had been placed on large racks over the pits. This aroma usually marked the day of some special event. In early days these massive feasts were managed by Mr. Thomas Dickey, who was the school engineer at the time.

One of the highlights of the military season came at commencement time for all cadet officers. The officers, in their full dress uniforms, with red sash and saber, would escort their sponsors, beautiful young ladies dressed in antebellum gowns and large hats, before the other cadets and spectators. This custom continued through the years until the military was discontinued in the mid-nineteen sixties.

The parade were not limited to the Georgia Military Academy campus. When parades were held in Atlanta, the Cadet Corps, led by Colonel Woodward and his staff, usually led the parades down Peachtree Street. In fact, Colonel Woodward was usually the Grand Marshal, especially for the Memorial Day parade. An expert horseman, Colonel Woodward rode his personal horse, Dan, for many years. When Dan died, Colonel Woodward kept and rode a special horse belonging to his close personal friend, Robert W. Woodruff.

The Cadet Corps also paraded outside the Atlanta area, especially in Washington, D.C. Of particular note were the Inaugural Parades for Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, and John Kennedy.

One such occasion was the Annual Military Inspection of the school by the Department of the Army. Cadets would prepare their for weeks in advance having their rooms in top order, and Mr. dickey's crew would spend many hours preparing the school grounds. Following a full day of inspections by the Army and a special military parade in the afternoon, every one enjoyed his fill of barbecue.

There were other occasions for such a feast. Each year, for example, Colonel Woodward invited and entertained Confederate veterans on the school campus. There would be a parade followed by the barbecue. Often, Colonel Woodward had the veterans in his home for dinner; and, for some years, with young cadets marching in dress uniforms as 'guards' in front of Woodruff Hall, one could see Colonel Woodward, dressed in his impeccable white uniform, sitting on the front porch of "The Retreat" chatting with the Confederate veterans and other visiting dignitaries.

Along with the intellectual, moral, and social education of all cadets, Colonel Woodward sought to develop the physique through military training, gymnastic exercises, and athletic competition. From the very beginning of the school, the Colonel's special aim was to supplement the physical training of the military and to build strong, healthy bodies among the cadets.

Beginning in 1900, and for a few years thereafter, Colonel Woodward administered himself all of the activities for this growth. All boys participated in military training along with organized daily exercise programs and well regulated athletics.

The daily calisthenics and "play" continued for many years and eventually evolved into the physical education programs prevalent today. Many of the sports were intramural, primarily with competitions between the dormitories. The boys in Rugby Hall might compete for a period of time with boys in the Old Gym in football while the boys in the Y.M.C.A. might compete with the boys in Sentinel Hall in baseball. The dorm competition was somewhat extensive with participation in track, rugby, boxing, wrestling, tennis, body-building, basketball, and swimming.

Much of the "play" continued on into the nineteen sixties when all students were required to participate in some form of afternoon or Saturday morning athletic activities. At the same time, all teachers were required to supervise (coach) the events. The activities to the students later became known affectionately as "forced fun."

Although a big emphasis was placed on intramural sports in the early years, interscholastic athletics were not omitted. Colonel Woodward believed strongly in athletic competition, but it was not his policy to allow his students to "run about over the country" to play ball. He scheduled, therefore, games with teams in G.M.A.'s class in and around Atlanta. He did, however, permit a few short trips away from the school.

Along with the athletic competition with the three large public high schools in Atlanta (Boys' High School, Tech High School, and Commercial High School) and with a few schools in the outlying area, some games were arranged with other schools in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and with other schools later on in the Mid- South Association of Independent Schools. Some of the earlier participating Georgia Interscholastic Athletic Association schools in the 1920's, for example, included Russell High School, Marist, Richmond Academy, Darlington, Lanier High School, and Newnan High School. At the end of the decade of the twenties, there were post season football games at the Havana Yacht Club in Cuba.

A typical football schedule in 1939 included the following:

	Heflin, Alabama - home
	Elberton, Georgia - home
	Tech High-Ponce de Leon Park
	Fort Payne, Alabama - home
	Boys' High - Ponce de Leon Park
	Marist School - Ponce de Leon Park
	Darlington School - Rome, Georgia
	Commercial High - Ponce de Leon Park
	Pine Bluff, Arkansas - Ponce de Leon Park
	Boles Academy - Jacksonville, Florida

Through the years, the school won many championships especially in football, baseball, basketball, gymnastics, wrestling, tennis, boxing, and track, with national titles in swimming and rifle competition. Some of the many coaches of note included: R.C. Patterson, J.V. Forbes, W.E. Sheffer, J.S. Burbage, Bud Harris, Bill Curry, J.R. Grayson, Dwight Keith, Doc McKay, M.C. Paget, Les Fouts, and Ira Sanderson.

As the years went by and as the size of the school grew, more and more sports were added. At the same time, the range of participating schools expanded. Breaking away from the Mid-South Association in the 1960's and joining the Georgia High School Athletic Association, Georgia Military Academy, with its large and varied sports program, became one of the powers in Georgia high school athletics. Of great significance was the winning record of Coach Graham Hixon over his twenty-five years in football at the Academy.

Extracurricular activities went beyond the athletic fields to include membership on the school newspaper and yearbook staffs and on the many literary organizations which Colonel Woodward organized early in the school's history. Here, again, all students were required to participate, and faculty members directed the programs. Colonel West, for example, organized and directed the Henry W. Grady Literary Society as early as 1904. Mrs. Alonzo Richardson directed the drama.

As in athletics, competition between dormitories was foremost with groups organized as Alpha Theta Literary Society, Gamma Mu Alpha Literary Society, Phi Psi Omega Literary Society, Demosthenian Literary Society, the Junior Literary Society, and the Y.M.C.A.

Excerpt from “The Woodward Story”, by Robert Ballentine, published 1990 by Jostens Printing and Publishing; content used with permission of the copyright holder, Woodward Academy Inc., College Park, Georgia, USA.