Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy is a transitional residential boarding school for young men and women who are coming from a "treatment setting" and are not quite ready for home, or who struggle with a learning disability without behavioral issues. These students may have ADD/ADHD, are unmotivated and doing poorly in school. Mountain Springs offers college prep courses, tutors and SAT/ACT preparation and testing.

In addition to "formal classroom education," field trips or "knowledge treks" give the students hands-on learning while they live and experience what they are studying, whether it is whitewater rafting down the Green River, studying biology or going to Washington DC to study history. International trips are offered twice yearly and students learn cultural differences, communication, history and lifestyles of different countries. Outdoor Leadership excursions include rappelling, rafting, climbing, hiking and backpacking.

Students also participate in week-end activities of cultural trips, movies, concerts, theatre and dance performances, along with regular outdoor recreation of softball, hiking, horseback riding and occasional rafting and climbing trips.