Seen 'n Heard, 4/1997 - Short news clips about Special Schools & Programs

ALLDREDGE SCHOOL
L. J. Mitchell, founder of SUWS Adolescent Program and now retired from active management of that wilderness program, is talking about establishing a new boarding school which he tentatively plans to call, Alldredge School. A location has yet to be decided on.

VALLEY VIEW SCHOOL TRAVELING TO ISRAEL
Philip Spiva, Director of Valley View School, in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, 508- 867-6505, is taking eight students on a trip to Israel this Spring. He also reports the entire campus is linked through a campus computer network, allowing the boys to benefit from computer-assisted programs and explore the Internet.

ALPINE ADOLESCENT SERVICE LAUNCHED
Ollie J. Perkins, M.A., Executive Director, and Gwynne G. Lockwood, Assistant Director, 888-858-9988, announced the start of Alpine Adolescent Services, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California. The purpose of the new service is to “provide professional adolescent transportation services to schools, residential treatment and wilderness programs, and various other adolescent care facilities.” Ollie is well known for successful interventions and transporting of difficult young people for more than three years, and Gwynne “has worked extensively with adolescents as a leader on wilderness and mountaineering programs for more than eight years.”

WILDERNESS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY SUMMER SEMESTER Gene Nervo, Director of Wilderness Leadership Academy in Buchanan, Virginia, 540-254-1146, announced he is accepting applications for the 1997 Summer Semester, scheduled June 16 through August 29. The “Summer Semester combines a traditional classroom education setting with outdoor wilderness therapy and educational enrichment trips to create a powerful experience that will change a young person’s life.” Students have the opportunity to earn four credits. SUMMER VENTURE BY MT BACHELOR ACADEMY Sarah Persha, Admission Director for Mount Bachelor Academy in Bend, Oregon, 800-462-3404 announced their Eighth Annual Summer Venture for boys and girls, ages thirteen through seventeen. It is “A peak experience designed to create growth by building: Teamwork Skills * Peer Relationships * Self-Esteem * Motivation & Success through a six-week intensive series of Adventures, Expeditions and Active Academics. Academic credit is also earned in Natural Science, Physical Conditioning and Humanities.”

SURVIVAL PROGRAMS SUPPORTED IN USA TODAY
In an April 9th, 1997 column in USA Today, Steve Wilson wrote an essay titled “Survival programs can help lost kids find way back home” in which he follows an Arizona boy’s route to Aspen Achievement Academy. In an appreciated aside, he says, “...Lon Woodbury who publishes a well-regarded directory called “Places for Struggling Teens” from his home in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.”

VIA’S PLACE UPDATE
For those who followed the 2-part series called “Via’s Place,” the Boundary County Court acted in mid- March. She entered a guilty plea to a charge of sheltering a runaway (a 13 year old local resident), and the judgement was a $300 fine, suspended, a 180 day jail term, suspended, and ordered two year probation with no juveniles allowed in her home without written consent of the Juvenile’s parent.

JOHN DEWEY COLLEGE CAMPAIGN 1997
Tom Bratter, President of The John Dewey Academy, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 413-528- 9800, announced that next Fall two of his graduating seniors will attend Brandeis University, and other seniors will attend Kalamazoo and Sarah Lawrence Colleges, and the University of Chicago. Tom points out that his Junior class is one of the brightest in the school’s eleven year history pointing out that “A third of the class has scored 1400 on the SATs which is significant because students are admitted on the basis of an interview and The John Dewey Academy does not permit preparation for this test to contaminate the curriculum.”