Having acquired and rehabilitated large parcels of land for more than five decades, Jimmy Winemiller is an experienced real estate developer who had his first job at the age of 13. In addition to his professional activities, Jimmy Winemiller is committed to giving back to the community and counts the French Camp Academy in Mississippi among his charitable endeavors.
For more than 130 years, the French Camp Academy has provided girls and boys with an education in a faith-based setting. The educational institution traces its roots to 1885, when Presbyterian missionaries founded The Mississippi Institute for Girls in the town of French Camp. In 1886, a school named French Camp Academy was established for boys. The two institutions combined in 1915 when the Mississippi Institute for Girls was destroyed by a fire. The new institution was called the French Camp Academy.
Major changes came to the French Camp Academy during the 1900s. In 1950, the board of trustees voted to turn the school into an interdenominational institution. In the 1970s, French Camp Academy added the Camp of the Rising Son, a summer camp with housing for students and, in the 1980s, the Rainwater Observatory and Planetarium opened and the campus radio station, Radio Station WFCA, broadcast its first show. Today, French Camp Academy furnishes a Christ-based education and has the capacity to board up to 170 students.
