Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a private liberal arts college in Swannanoa, North Carolina. It is known for its curriculum that combines academics, work, and service as every student must complete a requisite course of study, work an on-campus job, and perform community service. Warren Wilson is one of the few colleges in the United States that requires students to work for the institution in order to graduate and is one of only nine colleges in the Work Colleges Consortium. The college is notable for its environs. The campus includes a working farm, market garden, and of managed forest with of hiking trails. Warren Wilson College is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Warren Wilson College went through many phases before becoming what it is today. Its property, situated along the Swannanoa River, was purchased in 1893 by the Women's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church. They were concerned that many Americans in isolated areas were not getting a proper education and decided to establish church-supported schools in impoverished areas. On November 30, 1894, the Asheville Farm School officially opened on , with 25 students attending. A professional staff of three offered the first three grades of elementary instruction. In 1923, the school graduated its first high school class. A Presbyterian church was started at the school in 1925 so students and teachers would no longer have to walk three miles to Riceville; it was also named for Warren Hugh Wilson, former superintendent of the Presbyterian Church's Department of Church and Country Life. The first post-high school programs offering vocational training began in 1936. In 1942, the Asheville Farm School merged with the Dorland-Bell School in Hot Springs, North Carolina, to become a coed secondary school. It was named Warren H. Wilson Vocational Junior College and Associated Schools. After World War II, the public education system in North Carolina improved dramatically and the need for the high school diminished. The last high school class was graduated in 1957. In 1952, the college became one of the first in the South to desegregate, when it invited Alma Shippy, an African American from Swannanoa, North Carolina, to attend. Sunderland dorm residents voted 54–1 to allow Shippy to become a student and live in their dorm. Warren Wilson College was a junior college until 1967, when it became a four-year college offering six majors. In 1972, the National Board of