Valley Forge Military Academy and College

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Valley Forge Military Academy & College

Focused on developing personal strength in every cadet, opening the door for academic achievement now, and for the future.

Established in 1928, Valley Forge Military Academy & College is an international leadership institution, comprised of a middle school, high school, and college. Our College has been designated by the Governor and Legislature as the Military College of Pennsylvania.™

Maryland Governor Westley Watende Moore tried to run away from Valley Forge Military Academy. He now says it changed his life.

He still counts earning the “cap shield” that marks the passage from plebe to Cadet as “…the hardest thing that I’ve done. It was the first thing that I know I accomplished on my own—the first thing that I accomplished not because it was a giveaway or because someone felt bad for me or whatever. I earned that.” 

The feeling of accomplishment was intoxicating, he says, and he has spent the rest of his life chasing it. Westley Watende Moore

– Time Magazine Feb. 14, 2023

A Note from the President

Valley Forge Military Academy & College has nearly a century of success providing the highest levels of education to young men and women. We educate the whole person and develop leaders for a global society.

Your exploration of these pages will describe an education built on Five Cornerstones: Academic Excellence, Leadership, Character Development, Physical Development and Personal Motivation.

While ours is a military-style of education, these Five Cornerstones transcend the military – with application to all individuals seeking something more. Those who embrace them and live into them recognize leadership isn’t just a word and isn’t given – but earned.

Our graduates have an impactful role in the world – one that requires discipline, sacrifice, and acceptance that inward focus is limiting and outward focus beyond self is what can make a difference in and for the world.

In my role, I am only the latest in a long line of stewards of the legacy of Valley Forge Military Academy & College.

Along with my colleagues here, we bear great responsibility to those students entrusted to our care. Our charge is to grow them into students of the world and leaders of tomorrow – to help them envision something more and something better, and to help them find their roles in it.

We do so with obligation and authority – and that is a privilege beyond measure.

I look forward to welcoming you to Valley Forge Military Academy & College.

Very Sincerely,

Colonel Stuart B. Helgeson
President, Valley Forge Military Academy & College