The Wellington School was founded in 1982 by a group of Columbus executives and entrepreneurs.
The founding objective was to give students from every background and every part of the city the chance to succeed and celebrate individual talents.
“The function of a really fine school is to allow every youngster who attends to become a star, to become a champion, to be the best they can be,” said founder and visionary Ken Ackerman. “That’s something independent schools can and should do.”
The idea to start a school was Ackerman’s. Mr. Ackerman is a highly regarded national leader in warehousing and logistics, but education has been a lifelong passion. In 1979, he pulled together two fellow members of the Young Presidents Organization , Jeff Wilkins and Jack Ruscilli, to investigate an independent school as a response to what Mr. Ackerman saw as “failing” public schools that “created half-literate” graduates.
Mr. Wilkins, founder and president of CompuServe, and Mr. Ruscilli, chief executive of Ruscilli Construction, reached out to recruit three other CompuServe executives including, cofounder Harry K. Gard; George Minot, executive vice-president; and Dave Swaddling, chief financial officer. They also recruited Upper Arlington City Attorney Bob Holland, another believer in independent education.
This group of pioneers decided to create a school that would attract students imbued with the entrepreneurial spirit, flexibility of mind and habits and attitudes of world-ready global citizens.
“From the very beginning, people skeptically asked, ‘You’re starting a school?’” Mr. Wilkins said. His response typically was, “Well, we’ve all started or built businesses; we can start a school. Entrepreneurship is all about people who believe they can solve problems no matter what the obstacles.”
These visionary men were dedicated to creating a co-educational, secular, independent school in northwest Columbus.
“We really wanted a family-oriented school with parent involvement, children that wanted to be here – and we were dedicated to what we called the ‘three-legged stool’ of arts, athletics and academics (and since then the fourth leg of character),” Mr. Ruscilli said.
“This is a community,” said Mr. Holland. “Every person at this school owns this school – teachers, parents, students, staff. Everyone.”
Together, the men spent three years refining their plans, raising money, attracting additional believers to their cause, finding a property and recruiting teachers and students.
“I knew then that we were building something special,” said Mr. Swaddling. “To this day, Wellington embodies the ideals of balancing character, the arts, athletics and academics to create students who can have genuine involvement in the world.”
The vision was -- and remains -- to break the mold of assembly-line-style schools that crank out cookie-cutter graduates. The Wellington School gives each student the chance to be researchers, artists, team leaders and team mates, authors, performers and more. Those entrepreneurial men insisted that each individual at Wellington develop his or her own passions and that faculty and staff would help them reach their best potential.
“This school is an environment that nurtures individual skills and yet gives an overall education,” said Mr. Minot. “Wellington gives everybody the opportunity to be a success.”
All six founders remain connected to The Wellington School today. Their own children graduated from Wellington and now many of their grandchildren attend. Each man says the school has not only lived up to the founding vision, but exceeded it and continues to innovate curriculum that creates tomorrow’s leaders.