North Yarmouth Academy (also known as "NYA") is an independent, co-ed, college preparatory day school serving students from early childhood education to postgraduate. NYA was founded in 1814, in what was then North Yarmouth, Maine, prior to the 1849 secession that established Yarmouth, the town in which the school now stands. NYA has 375 enrolled students with an average class size of 14 students. NYA offers 16 interscholastic sports for boys and girls at the Varsity and Junior Varsity level. Program NYA students carry five academic courses plus electives each year and are required to participate in athletics or theater each season/semester. NYA offers 16 Advanced Placement courses. Beginning in the 2012-13 academic year, NYA offers Mandarin Chinese as part of its Modern and Classical Languages Department. NYA student athletes participate on a variety of varsity athletic teams. All NYA students in grades 6-12 participate in team sports or approved alternatives three seasons per year. More than 40% of graduates continue to play intercollegiate sports. One hundred percent of Middle School students and 73% of Upper School students participate in a musical ensemble. There are currently 12 musical ensembles offered at NYA. During the 2010-2011 school year, NYA students gave more than 4,500 hours to community service, assisting more than 55 community and civic organizations in the Greater Portland, Maine area. From 2001 to 2011, NYA built a $3M science center (the Peter W. Mertz Science Center, 2006), has renovated the oldest building on campus (Russell Hall, 2009) into a foreign language center, added an all-weather athletic (turf) field, built the Priscilla Savage Middle School in 2003 and increased endowment for faculty enrichment and student diversity. NYA added a Lower School, grades Pre-K through 4, in the fall of 2013 and expanded to include a toddler program (18-months) in the fall of 2014. The Lower School uses Montessori methods through kindergarten. In the first through fourth grades, the program builds off a Montessori foundation, fostering curiosity and motivation to learn while also preparing students for an easy transition to the Middle School at NYA. Facilities The NYA campus consists of academic and art buildings and two athletic buildings. The campus also has two athletic fields, three tennis courts, and a softball field. Its two oldest surviving buildings, Russell Hall (1841) and Academy Hall (1847), are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Priscilla Savage Middle School - Grades 5-8,