POULSBO — West Sound Academy is an independent college preparatory school established by steadfast dreamers who have striven to develop students who will ultimately become tomorrow’s leaders.

But dreams were only the beginning.

The school’s chief founders Ed Frodel, Gary Parke, Nellie Baker and Tim Ryan were honored for leading and persevering through a myriad of obstacles and helping the once “impossible” dream of WSA became a reality.

And so it was May 6 as the 20-acre campus off of State Route 305, at the end of Creative Drive, was formally dedicated.

“Entrepreneurs are dreamers that do,” said Jill Bamburg, the honored speaker at the event. “For them, the dream was only the beginning. Then, came the hard work.”

More than eight years of perseverance and dedication led WSA to the place where it is today. It all began with Poulsbo International Academy and a class of 18 students at Camp Indianola in 1998.

“I think we had more teachers than we had students back then,” school visionary Frodel said in jest. “It’s amazing what things can happen.”

Fast forward to May 2006, through three different venues and a change in name that is easier on the tongue, today West Sound Academy is comprised of a teaching staff of 22 and a student body of 100 in a four-building campus set in a very artistic atmosphere.

“On a hilltop, overlooking the world,” faculty Elenor Johnson described it through a WSA-written haibun poem entitled “a view from the classroom window.”

The school made the move from a former Suquamish hardware store/cafe to the campus on Creative Dr. in November 2005. Saturday the school’s trustees donated each of the new campus’ buildings to the school’s founders.

“Building a school from nothing but a dream is no small task. Ed Frodel, the pioneer, has persisted and here we are today,” Eric Quistlund, chair of the WSA board of trustees said through the dedication of Frodel Hall. “(His) dream of what could be is now the spirit embodied in these buildings.”

And the same type of spirit which emanated from Parke, Baker and Ryan will surely be present in the three other dedicated halls.

After thanking and honoring the donors, past parents, alumni and the students of the class of 1998 in her acceptance speech, Baker had a dedication of her own to make.

“For our current students, this campus is yours. For those who are yet to come, this campus is yours. In my turn, I dedicate it to you,” she said. “It’s the raising of leaders that we do here. It’s that raising of dreamers that do that happens at West Sound Academy.”

Following the dedication, the founders and audience joined the school’s students and staff, celebrating the occasion with a four-hour festival of the arts.

A wide array of WSA student body arts, from visual to culinary, were on display throughout the afternoon.

WSA’s beginning and advanced drama students acted six short plays from three great American and English comedic writers to inaugurate the school’s newest amenity: an outdoor amphitheater with an evergreen backdrop.

Those interested in looking further into the arts fused college preparatory curriculum should attend the school’s admissions open house at 7 p.m. May 24 at the Creative Dr. campus.

GRAY BOX:

West Sound Academy

admissions open house

7 p.m. May 24 at the WSA campus on Creative Dr. off of State Route 305 between Poulsbo and Suquamish.