 The school will furnish a home in which boys may have careful personal attention, the advantages of experienced teachers and wholesome natural outdoor life and amusements.” During this time the school was known variously as Hopkins School, Lake Placid School, and Lake Placid Boys School.Hopkins led the school until 1921 and oversaw its growth from six students to forty.By the time of Hopkins's departure the school was described as being, “...remarkably successful not only in the records of its boys in entrance examinations, but in their after careers in college.”

Herbert L. Malcolm, another Yale graduate, took over leadership of the school in 1921 and served as headmaster until 1925.