A small liberal arts college in Asheville, NC.Named for Warren Hugh
WilsonNoted because of the triad program in which all students must work at the
college as well as perform a certain amount of community service
in addition to academics.A brief history is as follows:The property was purchased in 1893 by the Women's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church. The women of the church were concerned that many
Americans in isolated areas were not receiving a proper education. The women decided to establish church supported
schools in areas where there were no public services. There was a need for a nonconventional grading system as the young
people who came to these mission
schools usually had no prior formal education.In 1894, the Asheville Farm School officially opened with 25 boys attending and a professional staff
of three people. It was not until 1923 that the school had its first graduating class. In 1936, the first post high school programs in vocational training were begun. It was hoped that this type of training would give the
students more prospects in the job market. In 1942, the junior college division was established. The Asheville Farm School
continued as a boys unit in high school studies. The Dorland-Bell School of Hot Springs was joined
with the Farm School, which brought high school age girls to campus. The Warren Wilson Vocational Junior College was joined with
them under our one administration.After WWII, the public
education system in North Carolina improved dramatically and the
need for the mission's high school diminished. The last high school class at
WWC was graduated in 1957. WWC was a junior college until March 1966 when it was established as a four year college, offering six majors. In 1972, the National Board of Missions deeded the WWC property over to the college's Board of Trustees. Since that
time, the College has grown and changed in many ways. Parttime student work crews, were added to accommodate new technologies and
new ways of doing things, allowing the college to become largely independent in many of its day-to-day operations, from
janitorial work to farm operations, to research and support for different academic departments and admissions, just to name a
few. In 1996, The North Carolina Outward Bound School moved its headquarters to campus.History taken from the Warren Wilson College Website
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