title: Desoto County Academy
text: # Desoto County Academy
  
  Desoto Christian Academy is a private school in Olive Branch, Mississippi.
  
  The school was founded in 1970 as Ark Academy, a segregation academy for caucasian students exclusively, one of dozens opened across Mississippi at that time in the wake of Supreme Court rulings on school integration. Since being renamed Desoto County Academy in 1974, and later renamed Desoto Christian Academy. The school provides education for pre-kindergarten through the twelfth grade
  
  ## History
  
  Betty Furniss founded Ark Academy in 1970. Veronica Elizabeth “Betty” Trainer Furniss was a member of the Citizens' Councils of America. The name Ark Academy was chosen, because, just as Noah is said to have saved humanity from a great flood, Furniss believed she was saving humanity from school integration.
  
  The school was renamed Desoto County Academy in 1974. The mascot has been changed from Angels to Ambassadors.
  
  