French Broad River Academy

🎉 Woo-hoo! 🎉 French Broad River Academy is a nominee in the 2026 Best of Asheville Contest. 🏆 Vote for us for Best Middle School! You'll find us in the Education category at: https://bestofavl.com/vote/ # ☑️ Voting closes July 1. ☑️

Last Friday, we welcomed back graduating high school seniors to open a time capsule they created while they were students here at French Broad River Academy middle school. It's a cherished annual tradition dating back to 2015 and the first class of the FBRA Girls Program. Since then, on the last day of their 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade years, students add notes to their future selves, trinkets, and other treasures to their class time capsules. For four years, the capsules remain untouched until students return to campus in the final days of their senior year of high school to open their FBRA class time capsule, often joined by former faculty to mark the milestone. It's a sweet and special time that we look forward to every year!

🎉🎉Congratulations FBRA Class of 2022 on your accomplishments as members of the high school Class of 2026. We can't wait to see what you do next!

⏳🕰️For more on the time capsule tradition: https://www.fbra-avl.org/time-capsule/?blm_aid=43330561

The 8th-grade boys spent the last nine days of the school year on their final Costa Rica International Field Experience of their time at French Broad River Academy. Students and staff traveled to rural villages for homestays on family farms before heading to the Rio Pacuare for some world-class whitewater paddling. Adventures included processing sugar cane, roasting and sampling coffee, swimming and hiking, gardening and planting trees, sharing dance, culture and games with the locals, birthday celebrations, practicing their Spanish language skills, camping, and miles and miles of paddling on one of the top rivers in the world for whitewater. It was an unforgettable way to wrap up their middle school years at FBRA!

Year in and year out, the Costa Rica trip is what FBRA graduates and alumni recall as the most impactful experience of their time at the school.

Middle school ended with a splash Friday for members of the French Broad River Academy Boys Program Class of 2026. Teachers, families, and friends gathered to celebrate the students and their many accomplishments during their time at FBRA. The evening ended with a beloved school tradition as graduates plunged into the French Broad River. What a night!

Congratulations to the Class of 2026! We wish you much success as you head into high school!!

FBRA Boys Program 6th- and 7th-graders wrapped the school year with 3-day, 2-night field adventures. Due to heavy rains earlier in the week, original itineraries were scrapped, and students and staff pivoted and headed for new adventures. Seventh-graders practiced their whitewater paddling skills on the Tuckaseegee River, while 6th-graders were on Lake Santeetlah for flatwater canoeing. There was camping, creek stomping, and swimming too. Congratulations, Salamanders, on finishing strong!

It was a beautiful evening as families, friends, fellow students, and faculty gathered Thursday to honor the French Broad River Academy Girls Program Class of 2026. There were inspiring speeches and musical performances, laughter and tears, the sharing of favorite memories and plans for the future, and even a dip for some in the French Broad River. We are so proud of these wonderful young women and their many accomplishments, and we wish them much success as they head into high school. Go get 'em, Salamanders!

The last few weeks of school at the FBRA Girls Program have been full of adventure! Check out the last Week in Review of 2026!

FBRA Girls Week in Review 5.28.26 Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

It's a BIG day at French Broad River Academy! Today is the last day of school, our 6th- and 7th-grade boys are returning from their spring overnight trips, the 8th-grade boys have just returned from an epic 9-day field experience in Costa Rica, and we honor our 8th-grade girls who graduate this evening. Tomorrow, the 8th-grade boys graduate, and that will be a wrap on the memorable 2025-26 school year. So much to celebrate, so please join us! Each grad ceremony starts at 5 p.m. at the program's respective campus.

RockFest 2026 is in the books! The annual concerts give FBRA sixth-graders the time to shine and show off the musical skills they've been building all year. Way to rock, Salamanders! See you next year at the legendary Orange Peel for the FBRA Rocks the Peel show!

Students and staff from the FBRA Girls Program returned Friday from their final overnight trips of the 2025-26 school year. Sixth-graders were on Lake Tugaloo in north Georgia for a flatwater canoeing adventure, and 7th-graders did an expedition canoeing outing on the French Broad. Eighth-graders took on the great Chattooga, one of the premier whitewater rivers in the Southeast, where they encountered a suprise visitor—a bald eagle flying directly above! It was an epic three days of adventure! Well done, Salamanders.

At French Broad River Academy, all students do three overnight trips a year for experiences that can't be accomplished on a day trip. They practice outdoor technical skills, campcraft, and Leave No Trace principles, develop expedition behavior for group success, and build bonds with classmates and teachers.