When the school was young, one of the staff
members created an imaginative story to
explain the origin of Forest Ridge Academy.
Each student and faculty member, upon
entering FRA draws to see if they will become
a Monti or a Hender. In the first grade class
there are an equal number of Montis and
Henders. The first graders rewrote the story
and created a picture of it by painting papers
and cutting and pasting them to create the
setting. The people and buildings were
drawn and painted by the children as well.
Here is their story of Forest Ridge Academy.

Once upon a time there were two villages.
One was called Monti and the other was
Hender. The children of the two towns
played together since they were within a
stones throw of each other.
One day two babies were born. One
baby, a girl, was called Monti Sarie. Sarie for
short. And the other, a son of Hender, was
called Henderson. Son for short. As Sarie
and Son grew they became friends.
In a nearby castle lived an evil wizard. No
one liked him much. He played tricks on
people and was pretty mean. One day he
happened to come across Son and Sarie
playing happily along the path between the
two towns. He became very jealous since he
didn't have any friends at all and decided to
cast a spell on them. He put the two children
into a deep sleep with his magic. The only
way the spell could be broken was if every
other child in the two villages went to school
and studied hard.
So the people made a school where all the
children could go to learn. They built the
school on the ridge above their villages and
called it Forest Ridge Academy. It had two
front doors -- one for the Montis and one for
the Henders. All the children went to school
and worked very hard and did their best.
Because this was so, the spell was broken
and Monti-Sarie and Henderson woke up.
The evil wizard was very angry when this
happened and went far away. I wish I could
say forever, but from time to time he still
returns to check to see if the children are
working hard and doing their best. He
knows what the children of Forest Ridge
Academy have discovered -- that knowledge
is the best magic of all and if you have that,
you can overcome superstition and even
spells.