Parents looking to inspire a prudent love of country among their college-bound teens should explore The William S. Knight Center for Patriotic Education, opening later this year at College of the Ozarks.
Director Andrew T. Bolger says that The Knight Center marries the college’s “holistic model of education that features instilling civic knowledge with patriotic actions backed by affections for the country.” He notes that this mission represents a continuation of the college’s decades-long push to emphasize patriotic education, which became a focus after some Vietnam War veterans were treated poorly after they returned home.
The eponymous center is name after William Knight, an aviation enthusiast who owned Knight Manufacturing, a Wisconsin-based maker of agricultural machinery founded by his father in 1945. William S. Knight Foundation president Kirk Blumm says that the foundation, which is behind the creation of the new center, works to protect the “individual freedoms guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence and Constitution,” which Knight felt were being increasingly ignored by younger generations of Americans. Once students and staff complete its construction, the center’s 6,700 square feet of space will feature classrooms, a drill room, and a media center.
