At the close of its first decade, the school reported a total admission in those ten years of 927 students, with 277 graduates, all but 17 of whom had become teachers. Many of them had bought land and established themselves in homes; many were farming as well as teaching; some had gone into business. Only a very small proportion failed to do well. By another 10 years, there had been over 600 graduates. In 1888, of the 537 still alive, three-fourths were teaching, and about half as many undergraduates were also teaching. It was estimated that 15,000 children in community schools were being taught by Hampton's students and alumni that year.Our Twin Cities of the Nineteenth Century: Norfolk and Portsmouth, Their Past, Present, and Future , Robert W. Lamb, Editor. Norfolk, VA: Barcroft, Publisher. 1887–8. Norfolk Landmark Steam Presses.
