HEBRON – The Hebron Academy community gathered Feb. 11 to celebrate Founders’ Day and officially begin its year-long bicentennial celebration. Upper and middle school classes, faculty, staff and friends listened as students read journal entries, the school’s charter, and other materials from the school’s archives.

“Happy 200th birthday, Hebron Academy!” John King, head of the academy, exclaimed, as he welcomed guests to the event. “Today we begin the celebration of our school’s bicentennial and its future.”

Hebron was granted a charter in 1804 by the General Court of Massachusetts, 16 years before Maine became a state. To mark Founders’ Day and provide listeners with a sense of the school’s rich history, students recited a former teacher’s diary entries, descriptions of school life in 1860, and original school rules and regulations.

The program included a retelling of events in 1819, when the academy’s only school building burned to the ground and a stirring speech by one of its founders, Deacon William Barrows, thwarted an attempt to move the school from Hebron. At the program’s close, everyone was invited to sing the school hymn, a tradition at many events. The hymn was written in 1891 by the Rev. Samuel F. Smith, author of the song “America.”

Though it is one of the nation’s oldest endowed boarding schools, Hebron’s mission and core values have remained consistent with the charge contained in the original charter, that students be taught liberal arts and sciences and educated to revere life and to respect and honor individuality.

Under King’s leadership, the academy recently reaffirmed its mission to inspire and guide students to reach their highest potential in mind, body and spirit.

Students performing in the Founders’ Day program included: Molly Curtis of Turner, Bum Seek Kim of Seoul, Korea, John Slattery of Minot, Elizabeth Cole of New Gloucester, Jamie Frederick of Cumberland Center, Ben Sukeforth of Litchfield, Algerson André of Bronx, N.Y., Amy Shackford of Madison, N.H., Sarah Irish of Buckfield, Noah Love of Portland, Gabe Rubenstein of North Yarmouth, Katherine Stewart of Gray, Kala Granger of New Gloucester, Emma Roy of Auburn, Delton Hulbert of New Gloucester, and Jordan Ramharter of Bethel. Cynthia Reedy, a language arts and science teacher at Hebron who organized the event, provided closing comments.

For more information on bicentennial events, call 966-2100 or visit www.hebronacademy.org.