“It has ever been my dream to establish a boys school that would take care of boys of ability and promise, who otherwise might have no opportunity to gain such an education.”

The Church Farm School was founded as a private boarding school by The Reverend Dr. Charles W. Shreiner in 1918. Dr. Shreiner, commonly referred to as Colonel, knew first-hand the meaning of hardship having been raised in a family without a father. From the time Colonel was six, he helped support himself and his mother in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. Life was difficult, but what Colonel was learning from his childhood experiences was that with hard work and determination he could accomplish his goals. This was the foundation for a life of accomplishment.

After attending the United States Naval Academy, Colonel took a job in a steel mill, but he found that this job was not personally satisfying. Always deeply interested in the church and working with young people, he decided, at age 24, to study for the ministry and was ordained in 1911. Long had he dreamed of creating a boarding school for boys, and in the spring of 1918, Dr. Shreiner opened The Church Farm School on a rundown farm 30 miles west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He had no money, a 100% mortgage and 15 boys whose mothers, widowed or divorced, were struggling without success to hold their families together. The Colonel believed “If God gives us a vision of something He wants done, He also gives us the ability to do it.” The Church Farm School survived the Depression and World War II. By the end of the 1950s, enrollment had expanded to 110 boys. The School’s original 125 acres had been enlarged to 1600 acres and more than 30 buildings had been constructed to house faculty and administrative personnel, provide classroom space and maintain a large farming operation.

One of Colonel’s principles was the value of work. For many years, the School had a large and active farm of dairy cows, chickens, hogs and fields of grain and vegetables. Every boy had to work on the farm, not with the intent of learning how to be a farmer, but to learn the value of work. This has been a central theme at The Church Farm School. In 1964, the last year of his life, Dr. Shreiner said to a Reader’s Digest writer who was writing an article about the School, “Children today often get too much freedom before they are old enough to know what to do with it ... The average child needs a lot of parental guidance and discipline; he must be taught responsibility, taught to work. Here at The Church Farm School, we instill old-fashioned values of work and responsibility.”

Dr. Charles W. Shreiner Jr., the Colonel’s son, began assisting his father a few years after returning from military service in World War II. He became Headmaster in 1964. It was not easy to fill the shoes of a predecessor who had accomplished so much during his lifetime, but Charlie Shreiner quickly demonstrated that he was the man to carry on the work of The Church Farm School. Over his 23-year career he expanded the academic program and built an exceptionally strong faculty, many of whom are still teaching at the School. Housing facilities for the students were expanded and the number of students was increased to 150. “Young Charlie,” as some of his elders often called him in his early days as Headmaster, proved to be a man with as much vision as his father. He charted The Church Farm School through some difficult years when every one of the values upon which the School was built was challenged, doing it successfully until 1987 when he turned over his reins to his son.

Charles W. Shreiner III, Terry, is no stranger to the responsibilities of a Headmaster, having served as Assistant Headmaster for 8 years prior to assuming the position of Headmaster in 1987. “Plotting the course of CFS over the next 20 years is my goal. Fortunately, I am surrounded by an exceptional staff of academic and administrative professionals. We will continue to rely on the traditional values, upon which this school was founded, to lead us well into the 21st century.”