For many years, I passed the Piney Woods School on Highway 49, as I traveled between Mobile and Memphis. At the time, the sign read, Piney Woods Country Life School, and I wondered what was on that large tract of land and who its students might be.

Then one day, I saw an episode of “Sixty Minutes,” featuring the Piney Woods School. I learned about its history and mission. I saw young persons who might otherwise have become statistics growing and thriving in that place. The story resonated with me deeply.

I made my first visit to Piney Woods School just a few weeks ago, after having met current school head, Will Crossley. Crossley, a communicant of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Jackson, has a contagious enthusiasm for the place he now leads. The first alumnus of the school to serve as its head, Crossley was brought in initially to effectuate an organized wind-down of the school.

Crossley saw that the school still had great potential—and rather than winding down its operations, he sought to breathe life into the historic school.

Piney Woods School had been founded in 1909 by Laurence C. Jones. Hailing from a family of educators, Jones came to Rankin County, Mississippi where opportunities for education for black persons were nearly non-existent. Jones found black youth who had no idea how to read and write—and he began teaching them. A fabulous painting on the campus depicts Jones, teaching poor black children who sat on a log as Jones taught them to read. A sheep-shed (still preserved on the campus) was constructed to hold the school’s first livestock.

Jones envisioned a school which would allow black students in segregated Mississippi not only to learn fundamentals, but also to learn trades. Over the years, Piney Woods School became a boarding school offering opportunities to students from at-risk communities and homes. Today, it’s a bastion of Advanced Placement courses and college preparation for students from throughout the world who choose life at Piney Woods.

Piney Woods had been the place where Crossley had connected with his own future: The Chicago native graduated from Piney Woods and headed for the University of Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (with Honors) in Public Policy Studies. He went on to earn a Master of Education in School Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. Crossley, former Chief Counsel for the Democratic National Committee, served as Senior Advisor in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. He previously practiced at the Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr firm in D.C.

At my recent visit, I met students from three continents who call this fabled school “home” and reside in a community of eager learners. On Crossley’s to-do list is inviting investment in a new STEM center for the school’s students. Piney Woods is making its own investment into the community: 360 solar panels on its property produce 20% of the school’s power. Much food for the school community is produced in its own greenhouses. Students help with the farm work and with other jobs around the campus, learning that their education there is a privilege. Today’s students know the history of Piney Woods well—and are proud to continue the legacy established by Laurence Jones.

My own family knew what it meant not to have access to education. My great-grandfather—who I’m told could neither read nor write—committed himself to seeing that future generations of his family had a place to attend school. When his youngest son married a woman who could read and write, my great-grandfather built a one-room schoolhouse on the family homestead. There, his many grandchildren and other family members received the elementary education that as black children of the early 20th Century they couldn’t receive elsewhere. From the family members who started in that school came teachers, pastors, businessmen, and men who proudly served our nation’s Armed Forces. My mother, at least four of her sisters, and some of her cousins came back to teach in the county where they’d grown up, knowing that other children needed teachers for their foundation. They shared a vision of leaving behind something greater than what they had found.

Over the years, the inspiring story of the Piney Woods School has drawn support from many places—from Charles Schulz to Ralph Edwards (“This is Your Life” show). Laurence Jones truly left behind something greater than he found—and his legacy continues in inspired students who are making a difference in the world.