When Charlotte Latin School opened its doors in September 1970, it had 425 students in Grades 1 through 9 and employed 24 teachers, three staff members, and one Head of School. Its location on the edge of Charlotte seemed almost rural. Since then, it has grown to 1,555 students spanning Transitional Kindergarten to Grade 12; a thriving neighborhood has sprung up around the school’s 129-acre campus. None of the school’s current laurels and achievements — the only MIT-certified Fab Academy in the world for high school students, the state champion sports teams and national champion debaters, its status as the only Malone Scholars School in North Carolina — would have happened without the vision and courage of the families who started a school with limited resources but high standards.

Founders’ Day commemorates Charlotte Latin’s anniversary — the school is 56 years old today — and salutes the men and women who created an extraordinary school that has allowed generations of students to become their best selves. Today, the school celebrated Founders’ Day with an enormous birthday card and breakfast tacos. Those tacos marked a major milestone: a 98% faculty and staff participation rate in the Latin Fund, the school’s unrestricted annual giving campaign. On Founders’ Day, Charlotte Latin honors its groundbreaking origins while investing in its future.