Foundation Academy will celebrate 20 years of serving children and families with a public anniversary event Saturday, July 25, at its Cornelia location.
The celebration will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 120 Commerce Parkway. Director Jennifer Trotman said the event will feature food trucks, Kona Ice, fairy hair, face painting, bounce houses and tours of the academy.
“We would love for you guys to come join us,” Trotman said. “We’re looking to show the building off, show you guys what we’re about, get to meet our community and hang out with some of our past, present and hopefully future families.”
Trotman said Foundation Academy currently has openings for families seeking child care.
Beginning With One Child
Although construction and preparations began in 2005, Foundation Academy officially opened in 2006 with a single student.
Owner Keri Burpee said the academy began with her desire to establish a child care program as an extension of her church’s ministry. When the church decided not to move in that direction, Keri and her husband, Tim Burpee, pursued the vision independently.
“Because we believed that you can have the greatest influence for Jesus when a person is young, we decided to start another ministry and started Foundation Academy,” Keri Burpee said.
The academy opened with one child and pre-K teacher Mindy Samples.
“Needless to say, that one child received one-on-one care,” Burpee said.
Newspaper advertisements from 2005 document the academy’s beginnings. By May of that year, workers were pouring the foundation for a new child care center at the corner of Commerce Parkway and Old Athens Highway.
A July advertisement announced that the academy was accepting applications for its original staff, including a director, assistant director, teachers, assistant teachers, cooks and an office manager. By August, Foundation Academy was enrolling children from 6 weeks through 12 years old and promoting its before- and after-school program.
Growing Beyond Cornelia
Two decades after opening with one student, Foundation Academy has expanded to five locations across Georgia. In addition to its original Cornelia center, the privately owned business now operates locations serving Perry, Warner Robins and Fort Valley, Newnan and the Brookhaven area of Atlanta.
The Cornelia campus has also continued to expand. Retiring director Sthar Trotman, who joined Foundation Academy in 2008, said growth led the academy to construct another building last year with room for 70 additional children.
“Everything here at Foundation Academy has evolved in the past 20 years,” she said. “Education in general is different, and COVID has changed the footprint of childhood, but we have a great team of teachers who have embraced the changes.”
Trotman said she is particularly proud that Foundation Academy maintained its enrollment through years of changes in early childhood education.
“Several of our employees have been with us since 2008 and have seen the changes and growth firsthand throughout the years,” she said.
As Sthar Trotman retires, her daughter-in-law, Jennifer Trotman, is taking over as director of the Cornelia center.
Keri and Tim Burpee remain actively involved in Foundation Academy. Keri brought decades of classroom teaching experience to the business, while Tim’s background as a pastor and youth minister helped shape its Christian mission.
The academy’s stated mission is to give children a strong start, help them recognize their uniqueness and partner with families during their formative years.
Saturday’s celebration will give former, current and prospective families an opportunity to reconnect while seeing how far Foundation Academy has come since opening its doors to one child 20 years ago.
