Visit Reports
NEW HORIZONS
Visit Reports
Feb 17, 2003, 19:43

Dominican Republic
Daniel Wallace, Admissions Director
800-333-4009

[School visit on 2/2/03, by Ed Consultant Steve Bozak,
518-373-8069]

New Horizons is one of the oldest therapeutic boarding schools in the nation. It has three coed campuses for students ages 12 to 20, each campus being for students at different levels. I visited the campus near Santiago in the Dominican Republic.

Left to right Time Blossom, CEO, Steve Bozak, Phil Redwine, Headmaster

Students may enroll either at Marion Indiana or the summer program in Canada and find the counseling and structure needed to finish high school and get back on track. Kids should stay for at least one school year but may stay longer if needed.

It is just a 3 hour flight from NYC and a 40 minute drive gets you to a very nice part of town in the Dominican Republic where a very nice campus with many buildings is located. 8 to 12 students live and eat in each of the dorms, with dorm parents. My first night I enjoyed a wonderful home cooked meal with the boys in one of the dorms. The kids told me the meals were one of the highlights of going to school here. The kids were all dressed up for dinner but during the day they were dressed more casually as they worked on
campus fixing up the grounds. “Today is work day, with no

Girls working on campus of Horizons

classes,” one boy remarked as I asked him about the school, and he went on to explain, “We all have chores to do around the school and we get paid for it.”
“The strictest teachers are the ones I like the best,” another boy told me after the meal. He went on to explain that he is getting better controlling his temper and improving in many ways. “And my school work is improving now that I am here doing the work. The teachers help me.” Academics are self-paced, with teachers for each of the subjects who help the kids stay on tract to do their schoolwork. The 43 students here were all very friendly and positive when I asked them what it was like being far from home. Students told me, “I write home every week and they email it to my parents.

Boys Dorm

I miss my parents the most.” Today was a workday and no classes were held. The girls were at work helping to build a guesthouse where their parents may come and stay, and the boys where somewhere else picking up the yard.

New Horizons is not owned by any religious organization, but the school is very Christian. The owner of the school, Tim Blossom, says they will enroll students of any faith but if the child wasn’t brought up in the Christian church atmosphere, it will take many extra months for the child to figure out the vocabulary of what’s going on here. Tim explains: “We like to get them off meds but if they really need them we will accommodate them.” Parents are encourager to participate in parent seminars or therapy in the states that is provided by New Horizons.

All the kids I spoke with said they hoped to go on to college after finishing high school at New Horizons. They came from all over the United States, except for one boy who was local. Two boys identified themselves as the two worst boys on the campus. Both of these boys were well mannered as we visited together about life at the school. The kids were happy and appeared that they were well cared for.