Snowdon School of Mathematics

The Keswyn A. Snowdon Institute for Mathematics, which did business as the Snowdon School of Mathematics, was a school located in Arrowhead Point, Snowdon County, Picketralia, from its founding on October 1, 1082, until it closed 310 years later, on April 7, 1393. Founded by Keswyn Snowdon (1048-1113) who wanted a different approach to mathematic education, it taught primarily students aged 18 to 29.

Early history

Keswyn Snowdon was born out of wedlock on March 31, 1048, on a rabbit farm in Arrowhead Point. He was baptised at Saint Frederick Church as Keswyn Allain Snowdon to wealthy father Allain Snowdon and mother Maria Xorf, who was an immigrant farm laborer who worked on the farm. Allain Snowdon was a poor farm laborer growing up who eventually bought the farm and expanded it's operations and acreage of Arrowhead Point, owning all of the land bound from Desert Falls all the way up to Sand Street, with the exception of St. Frederick's Church and homes in Sand Dune City.

Being from a wealthy family, Keswyn attended Pigot School and obtained a Magistrate of Mathematics from the school, but was reportedly dissatisfied with the method for education he received. However, he returned to assist his father running a successful business. In 1076, his father died, and he inherited the business and tract, but his lifelong goal was to become an educator. He attended the Baron Academy School of Education from 1077 to 1080 and received a degree in Arithmetic Education.

Returning to Picketralia, he tore down many of the old outbuildings on the property, liquidated the rabbit stock, and sold over 60% of the property to the Royal Land System, which gave him enough capital to construct a three-story sandstone building at 117 Desert Falls Road. He officially opened the school to a class of 25 students with himself as the sole educator. The school grew to 57 students by 1100, and Keswyn Snowdon died from tuberculosis on September 8, 1113. He is buried next to his father in River Cemetery and near his mother.

Last years

By the 1380s, the school was suffering from dwindling class sizes and low funds. The Headmaster at the time, Zanit Pann, sold off much of the rest of the historic Snowdon property, which had remained undeveloped, to a mix of both private landowners, the neighboring Saint Frederick Church, and to the Royal Land System. In 1390, the school went bankrupt and was sold to Pigot School, which kept it open for an additional three years, before finally closing the school on April 7, 1393, and tearing down the building that same day. All remaining students were transferred to Pigot School and to the mathematics program taught by Dr. Galvin Dresdon. That summer, a new building was built on the campus of Pigot School, the Dresdon-Snowdon Pigot School for Mathematics.