Chamberlain-Hunt Academy is a private, all-boys military boarding school located in the city of Port Gibson in Mississippi. It was founded in 1830 as Oakland College, which was shut down in 1871 and reopened in 1877 as Chamberlain-Hunt Academy. The school serves boys between the seventh and 12th grades in its boarding school program, though a small number of girls attend the school during the day. The school has about 120 students and a student-to-teacher ratio of 5-to-1, and its facilities include a large 70-acre wilderness camp, ropes courses, a lake, a rifle range and a paintball course. The school's programs include heavy focus on military training and discipline as well as having a focus on Christian spirituality, as the school is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
Bethel Academy is located in Lucedale, Mississippi and is a formerly all-boys military school (Bethel Boys Academy) which now allows students of both sexes, though it is still primarily a boys school. According to the school's website, Bethel Academy places a high priority on physical improvement and military training and specializes in dealing with "troubled" teens such as those with alcohol, drug or discipline issues.
The school is Christian-affiliated, and students at the academy are required to visit church at least three times a week. The school is notable for the multiple highly publicized lawsuits, most recently in 2004, brought against it for suspected physical abuse of students, because of which the school changed names several times.
The Mississippi Challenge Academy, also known as the Mississippi National Guard Youth Challenge Academy, is a physical branch of the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, which was founded in 1993 and enrolls students across the country in a military-based school program. The program is free to those that are accepted, but there is an application process. The school requires that students be between the ages of 16 and 18 when enrolling, and the program includes five months living on the campus and 12 months of mentoring.
The program targets what it calls "at-risk" teenagers and it offers students two opportunities to pass the GED while at the Academy. The program's website claims that over 60 percent of students that graduate receive a high school diploma or GED and 14 percent join the military. The school is not affiliated with any religion, though voluntary Christian services are offered.
The Reserve Officers Training Corp or ROTC has a very strong presence in Mississippi, with programs available at both the high school and college level. Some notable programs include the University of Southern Mississippi Army ROTC, the Mississippi State University Air Force ROTC, and the University of Mississippi Naval ROTC.