Friendship Academy, Shreveport (FA) was a community school on the west side of Shreveport (Caddo Parish), Louisiana with classes K-12

K-12

K–12 is a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education. It is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand where P–12 is also commonly used...

. It operated from 1970 through the very late 1980s; and was one of several private schools of its type in the Shreveport-Bossier area and throughout Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 during that period.

History

• 1969 A small community formed a school at Friendship Baptist Church on Winderweedle Road west of Shreveport, Louisiana.
• 1970 West Shreveport Academy (WSA) was founded by a group of families residing primarily on the west side of Shreveport.
• 1971 Financially challenged WSA had an enrolment of too few to fill its facility and the original Friendship was overflowing its facility, so the two groups merged and Friendship Academy was born.
• 1971 First varsity girls and boys basketball teams
• 1973 First varsity football team
• 1985 Friendship Academy closed its doors.

Friendship Academy operated its own school buses providing convenience to students and parents not offered by most other similar schools. Much of FA's history is documented in, or can be deduced from, copies of the Eyrie, the school's yearbook which was published annually during the school's existence. The last "Eyrie" was published for the 1984-85 school year, the last school year the facility was open.

Some of Friendship Academy's contemporaries were:

• Baptist Christian Academy (Shreveport, LA)
• Bienville Academy (Bryceland, LA)
• Bossier Academy (Princeton, LA)
• Calvery Baptist Academy (Shreveport, LA)
• Cedar Creek School (Ruston, LA)
• Central School Corporation (Grand Cane, LA)
• Claiborne Academy (Homer, LA)
• Glennbrook School (Minden, LA)
• Grawood Christian Schools (Keithville, LA)
• Plain Dealing Academy (Plain Dealing, LA)
• Riverdale Academy (East Point, LA)
• Shreve Christian Academy (Shreveport, LA)
• Trinity Heights Academy (Shreveport, LA)

Facilities

The campus was located at 6808 Jefferson Paige Road on the west side of Shreveport where the main classroom, library and administrative building was substantially completed in 1970; a detached cafeteria was erected soon after immediately behind the main building. Ground was broken for the gymnasium in the spring of 1972 and it was completed prior to the beginning of classes in the fall; it housed a new cafeteria along with boys and girls dressing and locker rooms, coaches' offices and other athletic and physical education facilities, while the old cafeteria was converted into a science and biology laboratory. The football field was completed in the fall of 1974 in time for FA to host its first real home football game following the maiden 73-74 football season of hosting home games at Independence Stadium

Independence Stadium

Independence Stadium is a stadium owned by the city of Shreveport, Louisiana and is the home of the Independence Bowl.Formerly known as State Fair Stadium, it is the site of the annual Independence Bowl post-season college football game, initially the Bicentennial Bowl...

.

Extracurricular

Friendship Academy regularly competed in literary rallies, speech tournaments and debates across the state.

FA won the designation as "President" school at the 74-75 LISA (Louisiana Independent School Association

Louisiana Independent School Association

The Louisiana Independent School Association, more commonly known as LISA, was an agency, which regulated and promoted the interscholastic athletic competitions of some independent high schools in the state of Louisiana. The organization is no longer in existence...

) Student Council Convention giving FA the honor of hosting the 75-76 statewide Council Convention March 27–29, 1976; Mark Parker-President, Donnette Greene, Pamela Stuart, Lisa Perser and Donna Nelson were the FA delegates bringing home the honor.

Athletics

The school fielded several athletic teams at the high school, middle school and elementary levels including girls and boys basketball, girls and boys track and field, girls and boys tennis, boys baseball, girls softball, gymnastics, golf and football; most of which competed primarily in Division 1-A of LISA (Louisiana Independent School Association

Louisiana Independent School Association

The Louisiana Independent School Association, more commonly known as LISA, was an agency, which regulated and promoted the interscholastic athletic competitions of some independent high schools in the state of Louisiana. The organization is no longer in existence...

). Boys athletic teams were known as the Falcons while some girls teams were the Lady Falcons; uniform colors were combinations of blue, gold and/or white, and often displayed the silhouette of the Falcon mascot, as on each side of their football helmets.

LA Tech Connection

Many Friendship Academy students continued their education at the collegiate level, however more attended Louisiana Tech University than any one other university:
Melinda Bickham,
Debbie Bihm,
Mark Brown (85),
Leonard Bruce,
Susie Garner,
Danny Graves,
Donna Graves (80),
Donnette Greene (BS 83),
Phyllis Gladden (81),
John Holtsclaw,
Lesa Johnson ,
Mark Johnson (81),
Brett Josey ,
Ric Kimble (BS 84),
Julie Lippmin (79),
Kelly McCoy (82),
Mike McCoy (BS 83),
Donna Nelson (83),
Jill Odom (81),
Jeff Ott (81),
Jennifer Ott (83),
Phillip Parker (BS 83),
Mark Parker (BS 80),
Sherry Penn,
Tuffy Penn,
Robin Pyle (80),
James Simmons,
Mike Smelley (BS 87),
Chris Tilley ,
Janie Tilley (79),
Kyle Tilley ,
Paula Walker (81),

Graduate Info

1971 first graduating class (11 graduates)

• Dorothy Meadows (1971), returned later to teach at FA

1972 (16 graduates)

• Dennis Berryhill (1972), received appointment to West Point

1973 (17 graduates)
1974 (18 graduates)

• Wayne Simmons (1974), founder of Shreveport Electric Co.

1975 (26 graduates)
1976 (24 graduates)

• Mark Parker (1976), President Louisiana State Student Council (76), LA Tech (BS 80), Northwestern State University
  Northwestern State University
  Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...
  
   (RN 84)

1977 (30 graduates)

• Phyllis Gladden (1977), LA Tech (81), former Miss LA Tech (79)

1978 (31 graduates)

• Terri Moss (1978), former Miss Shreveport USA 78
• Phillip Parker (1978), LA Tech (BS 83), founder of P. R. Parker Company, Inc.

1979
1980 (18 graduates)
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985