Wilderness Experience As Summer School

A recent study by Professor Anna Mueller at the University of Texas confirms what teachers have long known: teens under emotional distress cannot perform well at school.

Dr. Mueller, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study, concluded, "there is a relationship between failure and emotional distress" and "trouble in one domain of adolescent life (academic or emotional) can spill over and affect the other."

Teachers and others who work with teens tell us to think of the teen's world of school, home, and friends as a three-legged stool. If one leg breaks, the other two cannot function properly. In order to address academic problems, parents and therapists usually have to intervene in emotional areas and within systems of family and friendships.

The Three Parts of a Teen's Life All Have to Work Together

A teen may be distracted by his parents' divorce and unable to concentrate on his schoolwork. He may be agonizing over a break-up with his girlfriend and feel lonely, anxious, and isolated. He may be with the wrong crowd and experimenting with drugs and drinking, a secretive lifestyle that causes problems not only at home but also at school.

If these kinds of things are going on, summer school won't fix a teen's academic problems. What parents can do instead of summer school is to intervene and try a therapeutic wilderness adventure camp that offers academic credit. This puts the teen into a completely new setting with sophisticated round-the-clock therapy.

Summer Wilderness Therapy Can Help Failing Teens

Summer is the best time to use wilderness therapy because you won't disrupt your teen's school year by pulling him out mid-year. It solves the problem of an unsupervised summer. Finally, it is natural for young people to "go away to camp" in the summer. A wilderness program can dramatically interrupt bad attitudes and behavior patterns, and offer a teen a new perspective and an opportunity for intense self-growth.

Sometimes teens even earn academic credits during such summer programs.

For example, Aspen Achievement Academy, a licensed wilderness therapy program in Loa, Utah, allows teens ages 14 to 17 to earn one Utah credit (a semester's work) in social studies, English, science or physical education or a combination of these subjects during the summer. Aspen Achievement Academy is adjacent to Aspen Ranch, which is a traditional therapeutic boarding school.

The Ideal Way to Learn Astronomy and Biology Is Outdoors

As Aspen Academy teens spend their summer camping and hiking in beautiful vistas of the Utah wilderness, a teacher and counselors go with them. They have regular academic lessons, complete workbook, and do written work. However, the outdoor setting changes everything they ever knew about school.

For example, they study biology by keeping plant and animal logs and observing wildlife in its natural setting. As they hike upwards, the elevation changes and so do the ecology systems. Students may start in sand dune layers, move into desert conditions, and then climb all the way up to high forest. Each new area has new and different animal and plant species. Before the summer ends, they have camped in the equivalent of the high lands in northern Canada and the desert of the Sahara.

Instead of learning weather from books, charts, and maps, these teens master weather systems by tracking changes in wind, temperature, and air pressure. These changes are very relevant as they live outdoors. Students learn to tell when a storm or cold front is moving in so that they can prepare for it. The phases of the moon are also important during a wilderness experience. A moonless night means you need a campfire, for example.

"Seeing" geology instead of studying it comes as a revelation to most students. They learn to "read a mountain" by understanding what the rocks and formations in each level mean in terms of the mountain's history and composition.

Many Aspen Academy teens are from large cities and have never spent weeks outdoors. Because of severe city light pollution at home, they have never seen the night sky in all its lighted-up glory. During their wilderness experiences, they star gaze together, as their teacher tells stories about Mars, Venus and other ancient myths, and teaches them the names of all the constellations.

For the very first time, many teens discover that school and learning are both relevant and useful. This is especially true for those teens who learn best by experiences and observation rather than by book and lecture. For the first time, they get an A in something. For the first time, they understand how something like a solar eclipse works or why animals behave the way they do because their learning is experiential and hands-on, and therefore truly meaningful to them.

Some of nature's lessons are helpful as metaphors for a teen's own life. For example, a teen can study the life cycle of a star. After a star forms through nuclear fusion, it must maintain a state of equilibrium or else it will blow up. Teens learn that inner pressures pull not only stars apart, but also young people.

The main benefit of wilderness programs is the therapeutic treatment that enables troubled teens to work through their problems. However, wilderness therapy also gives teens the chance to enter a completely new world without the distractions of video games, television, cellphones and other technology. It is an opportunity to have a real adventure with a group of supportive friends their age and therapists who work with them on a constant basis. It is a chance to take healthy risks and test their limits.

A very common side effect, however, is improved academic performance once a teen returns home. As one Aspen Academy teacher said, "After a summer of wilderness, our kids hit sophomore or junior year of high school in a 'dead run.'"

If you would like more information about this wilderness therapy option for struggling teens please call (866) 273-5911 or visit www.aspenacademy.com/summer_2007.