Adam Blake - 162. Chapter 162

I enrolled Franz in the Academy, and I spent extra time with him, bringing him up to speed. I found once I pointed him in a direction, he took off running. The problem was there were a lot of directions. Marie and I provided tutoring. He was a bright lad who didn’t have the schooling to compete with the other 12-year-old students. From a schooling perspective, I would place him at the level of a 10-year-old. But I knew from Morgan’s experience, he would catch up. The advantage of my school, small classes, proceed at your speed. Age wasn’t an issue, knowledge was.

The new school year was always a mad rush. Getting new students adjusted to the Academy always had a problem. Some students were away from home for the first time; they missed home, so we had to create a home environment for the first six weeks. I depended on the Knights to help. They had gone through it, knew what it felt like and how they got over it.

Kings College enrollment, except providing preference to the boys from the Academy, was opened to any student who wanted to learn what some schools called liberal arts. For my boys from the Academy, it was a continuation of their training to become the leaders of tomorrow.

There was an exception, and the word was out if you wanted to be active in government, a degree from Kings College would help. I believe this came from the people in government and had children in the Academy and Kings College.

I put together a group of senior professors and set them to develop a Master’s program to complement our directives. Our primary directive was preparing students to lead in the service of their country. The second directive was to prepare our students to be successful in large corporations and wealthy family businesses.

“The clinic was up and running. Marie said it was as good as a large city trauma center. She was happy, and so was our doctor.

Henry and I talked about the girls’ school. The foundations were laid, I did not want a basement, so that made construction more straightforward. The gym area was part of the first floor, along with the cafeteria, the library, study room, and computer lab. The second floor where the offices and classrooms, the third floor were the dorms and teachers’ apartments.

The library was my area to design, and I copied many of the designs from the Library of Alexandria. On one wall were pigeon holes filled with scrolls. They were copies of some of the scrolls from the original Library that were not destroyed in the fire. In front of the scrolls were the tables and chairs for studying. Bookshelves were arranged behind the tables, and a section was devoted to early writings. Greek and Roman mainly but some others that had been found and copied.”

I had marble floors all through the first floor. In the study room, I had a mosaic placed in the center of the floor, again early Greek in design.

The entrance was modeled after a Greek temple. Large columns were faced with white tile to replicate the marble columns of the Greek temples. There was a square of white marble placed on top of the columns. In the center of that block, I had a picture of Hypatia engraved. The words Hypatia School for Girls were engraved under the picture.

“The swimming pool looked like an early Greek bath. Although a lot of these bathes were for men, this one was for women. I had showers and lockers hidden behind a wall of marble. Henry was clever, and he had thin marble blocks that he used as a veneer over the wooden walls. The wood provided the strength of the structure and the base for the attachment of the marble. It reminded me of bathroom walls where tiles are used. The floor of the swimming pool was marble tile.

This decor changed on the second floor. The classrooms had a lectern, again on the Library’s design. Instead of desks and chairs, the students sat on tiers. The back wall was a painting showing a class being conducted at the Library. I had two artists committed to helping with this project. The walls were based on the walls in the pictures.

Between the classrooms, I had columns installed that looked like they were holding up the ceiling. They were half-columns so that the back edge was flush with the wall.

The third-floor dorms were typical college-type dorms, and the apartments were simply a bedroom with a bath and a small kitchenette. A little bigger than my original room in the Academy.

With all of the details worked out, I sat back and let Henry do his thing.

The first group of students arrived the first week of September. That week was introductory to Kings College and getting the new students sorted to their dorms, assuring they have books and the usual introductory party. Introducing the staff, expectations of the students explaining and discussing the rules regarding the Dungeon.

The Academy’s new students were given a tour, an explanation of the Knights of the Square Table, the Oath, and of course, a tour of the building. It was a leisure week in both schools.

An introduction of the medical staff and the clinic was done at the College and Academy.

The second week, classes began, and I was happy.

Marie still had to go to the grade school in town. She wasn’t happy. Adam and Franz were admitted to the Academy as first-year students, being 12.

Morgan was a senior in the College and still came and sat on my lap. I spent as much time with him as I did with my other two. All of my boys would meet once a week as a family and we'd contacted my other sons. We played catch-up. Sometimes there was a lot of exciting news, and sometimes there wasn’t any. Occasionally one would have a personal problem that would require a one on one discussion. We all agreed to meet four times a year for a minimum of one week per meeting. We did that at the cabin. I flew them all in. That’s what a father does.

Routine is the most boring thing for me. I can’t sit behind a desk longer than 1 hour without getting antsy. That is what James calls it.

So, I’m either walking to the cafeteria for coffee or the study hall, checking on those there, or walking to the College. I keep checking on the girls’ school. Every day, I needed to tell Marie that yes, the school will be ready once she finishes the 8th grade.