Schools

Wesleyan's Zach Young Begins His Final Year as Headmaster

After 17 years at the helm of the private Christian school in Peachtree Corners, the 2013-14 school year will be his last.

When the bell rings at Wesleyan School Wednesday morning signaling the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, it will also be an ending of sorts for its headmaster, Zach Young.

After 17 years at the helm of the private Peachtree Corners school, Young announced this past spring that he plans to retire after the school year ends.

"Not everyone gets to go out on their own terms," said Young who added that the average tenure of a headmaster is six to seven years. "Being a headmaster is a contentious job," he explained.

After advising Wesleyan's board last fall of his intentions to retire after the 2013-14 school year, Young says he still feels it was the right decision. "My father taught me how important timing was," said Young, 63.

Young was hired by Wesleyan School's board in 1996 replacing retiring head of school Barbara Adler just as the school moved from its Sandy Springs location to the 53-acre site on Peachtree Parkway.

"It was white-knuckle time," recalled Young who worried, "could we open on time, could we attract enough students and raise enough money to be a first-rate school?

"When we moved out here in the summer of 1996 there was nothing but a road and a retention pond," remembered Young. "We opened the day after Labor Day with 15 modular units, a soccer field and gymnasium."

The new campus opened that year with 556 students and in the 1997-98 school year graduated its first senior class of 17 students.

"Now $125 million and 17 years later this is what we have," said Young as the school undertakes a $16.5 million capital campaign for additional classroom and sports facilities. "It will be complete during the 2013-14 school year, then I'll hand it over."

But Young will undoubtedly be remembered for more than just for the growth of the Gwinnett school.

"For many in the Peachtree Corner community, his legacy will be the Wesleyan campus itself which was developed in a remarkably short period of time," said Mark Middleton, a Wesleyan parent.

"However, as a parent, I will remember the busy leader who took the time to invest in the lives of my kids. Whether it was a faster swim time or an improved test grade, he has always gone the extra mile to know the details and encourage effort," added Middleton.

When Young leaves next spring, he'll say goodbye to nearly 1,140 students, the majority of which live within a 10 mile radius. The school's growth, he says, is the example of the expansion of the Atlanta metro area and the market for Christian schooling.

"Our dream was to have a Christian school that was quality through and through, to have everything first rate and to glorify God in the right way," he said.

This time next year Chris Cleveland, who currently serves as assistant headmaster for advancement, will take over as headmaster, leaving Young to move on to the next stage of his life. Where that leads, he's not sure.

"I have two grandsons. If God wants me to just be a grandfather that's fine," he said. 

Young lives with his wife of 39 years, Studie in Buckhead, they have three children.


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