WNC school aims to help teen girls overcome issues
Hendersonville’s New Leaf Academy teaches, counsels students
By Amy Miller
STAFF WRITER
Asheville Citizen Times - http://www.citizen-times.com
July 4, 2005
HENDERSONVILLE — When Rachel Friter’s parents divorced, she felt lost, insecure — and angry.
In her frustration and confusion, she emotionally attacked her mother, turning their home into a war zone.
She stopped going to school. She dated bad boys. She teased and manipulated other kids in her class.
“I freaked out, basically,” Friter, 14, said. “It was bad. I was horrible at home.”
All that changed, she said, when her parents decided to send her to a boarding school for troubled girls in California. When that school closed last year, they found New Leaf Academy of North Carolina, a program of Aspen Education Group.
The year-round school, which opened this summer in Hendersonville, educates 13 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 who have behavioral or learning difficulties. Whatever their situation or problem, the girls need extra guidance and personal attention in their academic and personal lives.
“Children today live in a societal pressure cooker that pushes demands and temptations on them at an amazing rate and at a surprisingly early age,” said Catherine Jennings, New Leaf Academy executive director. “Middle school especially is a confusing time when peer pressures and temptations can have a very negative impact on vulnerable young girls.”
These days, Friter goes to math, science and social studies classes every day. She takes dancing, fencing and art. She studies at night. She takes standardized tests to make sure she’s meeting state standards.
But she also meets regularly for group counseling sessions. She’s learning how to make better choices, and that there are real consequences for bad behavior.
Now, Friter has become a leader among her peers by learning how to make lasting friendships — without manipulating anyone.
“It saved my life,” Friter said.
But when a girl decides not the follow the rules at New Leaf, the penalties are swift and certain. Even an inappropriate “no” said to another student can mean lunch restriction, said John Singleton, academic director. Privileges are taken away and extra cleanup chores assigned. Sometimes, the other girls confront a student’s bad behavior in a group session.
Singleton used to work at Stone Mountain School, a boarding school in Black Mountain for troubled young boys with behavioral or academic problems.
He said boys tend to act out universally. But girls usually vent their anger and frustration at home. That’s why girls seem to respond better to structured, guided interaction from adults, he said.
“We educate the whole child — socially, emotionally and academically,” Singleton said. “That’s what we’re all about.”
