Christ School Mission

Christ School is a college preparatory school affiliated with the Episcopal Church. Our mission is to produce educated men of good character, prepared for both scholastic achievement in college and productive citizenship in adult society. We achieve this mission through a four-fold process. First and most important, we challenge and encourage each student, in the nurturing environment of a close-knit campus, to develop academically to his maximum potential. Second, through competitive sports, student self-government and a variety of extracurricular activities, we help each student to develop his physical fitness and leadership skills, and his respect for others regardless of their origins, cultures or beliefs. Third, by involvement in the care of our campus home, civic duty is learned, along with a sense of the dignity of honest labor. Finally, through religious instruction and regular participation in Chapel activities, each of our students learns the sustaining value of faith and spiritual growth throughout his life.

Christ School History

Christ School was founded in 1900 by Father Thomas Wetmore and his wife Susan Allen Wetmore as a mission of the Episcopal Church. Mrs. Wetmore's family gave them four acres of hilltop land just south of Asheville, North Carolina for the purpose of educating the rural mountain children of the area at a time when there were no public schools. In addition to academics, the mission school also taught students a trade, such as industrial arts, crafts like weaving, basketmaking, and cabinetmaking, and nursing for the girls. These trades helped support both the school and the families of the students. The Wetmores had a tremendous outreach into the poor rural community, providing nursing care and clothing. When Father Wetmore died in 1906, Mrs. Wetmore became Principal and continued her fundraising efforts on behalf of Christ School for another 40 years.

Christ School was co-ed until 1927 when public schooling became available and provided transportation for the children of the area. At this point, Christ School became a true college preparatory Episcopal boarding and day school for boys.

The school has grown to over 500 acres of academic and residential buildings, athletic fields, wooded trails, and green space.  Christ School currently has over 225 boys in grades 8-12, and students come from all over the United States and across the globe, adding cultural depth to the rigorous academic education. The school is still affiliated with the Episcopal Church as an unfunded mission and accepts boys of all faiths. St. Joseph's Chapel at Christ School is the longest continuously operating Episcopal church in western North Carolina, and the tradition of a Chaplain conducting regular Chapel services has continued unbroken for over a century.