Learning to budget, pay taxes, obtain a loan, find the most competitive credit card rates or recover from identity theft might sound stressful or maybe even boring.  The Financial Literacy class at Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy, taught by Becca Black is anything but!  Student Ethan shared, “Financial literacy is so important and Becca is such a great teacher!”

Students are currently involved in a realistic budgeting project. Each student has chosen a desired career and a city to “live” in.  Based on their chosen profession, each student was paid a salary.  Students then created a budget including housing costs, car payments, insurance, utilities, cell phone, medical expenses and so much more.  In an attempt to help students understand that life events can dramatically affect your budget, Becca recently assigned each student an unexpected financial situation such as a natural disaster, medical emergency or car accident.  Students have since made adjustments in their budget to account for this surprise development.  What a great way to learn that “real life” isn’t always easy financially speaking.

Class member Aubrey said, “I have had some really hard financial things come up in my life right now and I don’t have the stability that I thought I did.  I just applied to my dream college and I had to try and find a way to pay for that.  I had to borrow the money for the application from someone.  Now I am trying to figure out how to pay that person back.   This class is helping me figure out all of this.  I think it is good that I am learning this now, so I won’t be blindsided by finances in the future.  Without this class financial literacy, I would be so much more stressed out about my future.”   

Learning To Be Entrepreneurs….

During a recent class discussion, the students asked if they could go out to lunch as a class.  Becca thought it was a great idea and told the students they would need to come up with a way to fund it.  Ethan suggested that they start their own business to earn the money.  After brainstorming the students decided that selling baked goods would be the best way to turn a profit.  They determined to take advantage of a local farmer’s market to sell their product. Sophie provided a family recipe for Cowboy Cookies and together the class created a yummy brownie recipe.  Both recipes could be produced at a low cost.  The students made the choice to sell both fresh goods and dry mixes of their recipes. Each student invested as much capital as they could to acquire supplies. The class calculated how much they could make with the capital they had invested building a pricing and marketing plan accordingly.

Students contacted the farmer’s market making arrangements to sell on an upcoming Saturday. The Friday before found students preparing their products.  On the day of the event, students sold $110 of baked goods and mixes.  The class had invested $55 in materials and booth rental at the Farmer’s Market.  With $55 of profit, the students made more than enough to fund a pizza lunch. In the following class discussions, students determined what they did well and what could have gone better. Almost all of the students had something insightful to share, and ideas for where they could have improved. Lessons learned in Becca’s classroom will hopefully last a lifetime. 

Each CERTS Program includes an excellent academic program that fosters success in our students.   Kolob Canyon, La Europa Academy and Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy provide a high school program for students grades 9-12.  Moonridge Academy provides a middle school academic program for students in grades 6-9.  Parents make the important decision to enroll their daughter at a CERTS Program primarily because of therapeutic challenges they are facing.  However, many are also experiencing either academic challenges or academic consequences as a result of their emotional struggles.  Many residential programs minimize the academic component and use online coursework or learning packets with an instructor teaching multiple subjects or levels at the same time.  Our students attend classes with highly qualified, full-time, licensed teachers.  All CERTS Programs are accredited through the AdvancED accrediting agency. All credits are fully transferable to home school districts.  Students who are completing their high school credits at a CERTS Program, can earn a high school diploma by filling the Utah State Office of Education graduation requirements.

CERTS believes that a challenging, stimulating academic program is an important key to restoring balance and health to our students. Success in the classroom has far-reaching effects into other areas of life. As a result, we provide a high quality, fully accredited educational program.  Special attention is paid to meeting the needs of each individual student. Our goal is to develop positive self-esteem in a climate that stimulates creativity and individuality. Our philosophy is based on the belief that each child has unique capabilities and talents.  We feel that a wide variety of experiences are needed to help students discover and enhance their talents. We help each student to experience success that can be applied to all aspects of our education and clinical programs. Academic expectations are high and with the guidance of a highly trained and caring academic team, students learn to master the necessary skills to prepare them for their future.  Students who enter our program academically behind, are often able to catch up with their class work while receiving the therapeutic care that is required.  At CERTS, our belief is that a strong and challenging academic program is an important component of helping our students heal, develop resiliency, competency and establish future direction.  The academic component compliments the therapeutic program by:

• Allowing students to practice skills in a traditional academic classroom setting
• Helping students develop or strengthen their academic abilities
• Allowing students to recoup lost credits, and/or helping them to move forward with their academic credits and goals
• Superb teacher to student ratios (average 1:6 teacher to student ratio) that provide the one-on-one best suited for this type of student
• Outstanding college-prep curriculum that is taught through learning and teaching techniques best suited for this type of student (direct instruction from a certified teacher with lots of opportunity for “hands-on” learning)
• A customized education plan
• Classes take place on campus with access to the teachers during regular study hall hours
• Specialized teachers who are passionate about what they teach and, therefore, who produce students who say things like, “I’ve never liked math before now!”
• SAT/ACT preparation and testing
• Opportunities to accelerate students’ coursework to help them get caught up or graduate on time. In addition, opportunities exist to make up deficient grades
• College entrance preparation and application assistance
• Career exploration and vocational internships

Graduates are Successful

Students at La Europa Academy have been accepted to some phenomenal colleges and universities including the Art Institute of New York, Parson Institute of Fashion Design, California College of Arts, Loyola College, Drexel University, Fordham University and many state colleges such as Colorado State University, Florida State University and many of the California State University Campuses.  Students at Kolob Canyon have been accepted to Lawrence University, Southern Utah University, Sarah Lawrence and various state universities.  Over the years students at all of our programs have received scholarships as well to some of the universities listed above.

On Friday May 17, 2019 Mountain Springs held its Spring Commencement Exercises at Southern Utah State University.  A total of five students graduated with high school diplomas and six students graduated from the program at Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy with three students accomplishing both.  Principal John Dobbs from Cedar High School was the graduation Guest Speaker.  High school dipolmas were handed out by Academic Director Dave Gardiner.  Each program graduate was honored by their student advisor. Each year we are excited when our graduating students are accepted to colleges and universities they have applied to.  It is wonderful to see them advance to campuses of higher education with the academic and life skills learned at Mountain Springs Prep.  Students graduating with the Class of 2019 were accepted to a number of different colleges and universities including Oregon State University, Arizona State University, Whitman College, Colorado State University, and a number of California State University campuses–California State University Chico, California State University Fullerton, California State University Montery Bay, California State University Northridge, and California State University Sonoma. One of our students earned scholarships to Evergreen State College, Oregon State University, University of Pudget Sound and Whitworth University. We are so proud of our graduates and all that they have achieved.

Not all education can and should happen within the classroom. Sometimes, traveling is the best form of education, as students can get a number of personal and educational benefits from travel. From learning about other cultures first-hand to seeing where historical events took place with their own eyes, educational travel gives students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of art, science, history, and culture in ways they never have before. But the benefits of student travel go far beyond the actual subjects taught during the trip. When students can see how other people live their lives, they learn so much about being able to see through another’s perspective, building their capabilities for compassion and empathy. After all, as previously mentioned, traveling students learn that cultures may have several differences, but they also learn that people from other cultures aren’t so entirely different. When they travel, they learn so much about other people and the world is no longer full of “other” people, but just people, and the world starts to feel like it, as a whole, is home.

Each year Mountain Springs provides an International Trek–an amazing way to experience new cultures, see fantastic sights, eat amazing food and take the learning outside the classroom. This year our adventure took us to Portugal and Spain.  We discovered Lisbon exploring through downtown and the viewpoints and waterfront, navigating the subways and buses, Rossio Square, the Arch of Rua Augusta, San Jorge’s Castle, Alfama, The Lisbon Cathedral, the Oceanario (Aquarium), incredible food, even better gelato, the Monument to the Explorers, Belém Tower.  And stairs, lots and lots of stairs.  Getting out of the big city and into the countryside and Sintra, Portugal just grew more and more beautiful with each passing mile.  We loved Quinta Da Regaleira, an awe-inspiring estate complete with a castle, chapel, towers, spiraling wells to descend – and ascend,mini castles and an entire park of lush gardens and underground labyrinths.

Spain was next!  Seville during Holy Week is quite an experience.  We toured the Seville Cathedral, with a tour of the rooftop and city views, to the Plaza de España where some of us rented the small rowboats in the canal circling the front of the grand edifice.  The Plaza’s ornate style and bright tiled lampposts were truly iconic. A day in Malaga was next where we dipped our toes (or crazily for a few, their entire bodies) into the frigid Mediterranean Sea.  The final days of the Trek were spent in Madrid and Granada, a beautiful sprawling town, mixing old with new on every block.

For many of our students this was a once in a lifetime experience.  Many thanks to Jon Larsen, Executive Director who planned this amazing adventure.  We can’t wait to see what next year brings!

Parent education can be defined as any training, program, or other intervention that helps parents acquire skills to improve their parenting of and communication with their children.  At CERTS we take this concept seriously.  We feel that the healing therapeutic process for a student is dramatically improved when the parents are involved in learning and changing.  Research demonstrates that one of the keys to the success of adolescent treatment is parental involvement and parent education.  At the CERTS programs emphasis is placed on helping the family system by providing the family with the tools they need to make the successful transition home after treatment. Because most of our parents are unwittingly locked into an unhealthy dance step of control battles and manipulation with their children prior to admission, proper training and education to help parents break out of this pattern is a key factor for long-term success.

There are three major ways that CERTS helps educate parents to learn and practice new skills:

Parent Webinars:  Live webinars are provided to parents up to three times per month.  Webinars are taught by clinical and academic staff from all of the CERTS Programs and include topics from understanding different diagnosis to helping parents navigate transition and just about everything in between.  Webinars are interactive.  During webinars parents are able to interact with the instructor asking valuable questions.  CERTS also has a Parent Education Channel where parents can view on-demand all recorded webinars at their convenience.  La Europa Academy also provides parents with a weekly DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) Support Group where parents can learn specific DBT Skills.

 Family Weekends/Parent Seminars:  Each CERTS Program–Kolob Canyon, La Europa Academy, Moonridge Academy and Mountain Springs hold regular Parent Seminars.  Kolob, LaEuropa and Moonridge hold seminar weekends quarterly, while Mountain Springs hold parent weekends three times per year.  Parent Weekends are filled with intensive parent education workshops, parent support groups, family therapy and recreational activities.  Parent Education Workshops are a key part of seminar weekend, providing parents with an opportunity to learn skills such as validation, helping your child who might be emotionally unregulated, understanding suicide and self-harm behaviors.  Workshops also cement skills that parents have been working on in family therapy.   Parent weekends also allow parents and children to have free time together to practice new skills and improve communication.  Some of the CERTS Programs also provide a family seminar once per year.  Kolob Canyon takes all of their families including siblings on a 3-day river trip.  It makes for a fun outdoor adventure with the support of therapists and staff.

Family Therapy:  Families at all of the CERTS Programs participate in Family Therapy.  At Kolob Canyon, La Europa Academy and Moonridge Academy families participate in weekly therapy sessions.  At Mountain Springs students receive clinical services from community based therapists.  These community therapists and the families determine what amount of family therapy is needed.  During family therapy parents and their children learn ways to better communicate and develop skills to improve their relationship.  Family therapy is a time for parents and children to talk through specific issues with the guiding hand of a therapist.  Parents might also be given specific “homework” assignments such as reading a specific book, watching a specific webinar or completing some other kind of therapeutic learning experience.

With each of these parent education opportunities, CERTS is helping parents take back the reigns of the parenting process and decision making.  This is so essential to the therapeutic and healing process.

An article that the Kolob Canyon and Moonridge Academy Academic Director Susan Mackert wrote and had published in the NATSAP December 2018 Newsletter/Education Edition:

Students are bored by isolated instruction. They want to be involved, hands and hearts, into relevant content that brings subjects together into real-life or fantasy scenarios (think Fortnite or Dungeons and Dragons).

Teachers at Kolob Canyon School are gamers and they know how to talk the language of our action-oriented, multi-tasking ninjas. They do this through creative projects that integrate subjects and engage the senses of their students. Our academic team devotes Wednesdays to educational activities that combine relevant content from multi-disciplines into a cumulative hands-on project that builds interest and relationships.

A favorite project is the Poetry Slam, where students present a selected poem from their favorite poet along with one of their own poems on a local stage. Teachers and administrators join in on this challenge as well, showing our students it’s never too late to try scary things. On another Wednesday we divide our students into tribes and they go through challenges, playing outside games that mimic Ancient Warfare games. A favorite is the archery competition and building catapults, with the math teacher alongside helping them figure trajectory.  Another much-loved activity starts in early September when students are assigned a region of the world and then choose a popular monster from that region to research. Our English and math teachers create an algorithm that evaluates a monsters strengths and abilities and students build posters and presentations that eventually culminates in the Monster Smash playoff held on Halloween day.

The key factor in student understanding and retention is significance. At Kolob Canyon School students are engaged in seeking, acquiring, and using knowledge in an organic way that brings life (and significance) to academics. And speaking of Dungeons & Dragons. . .last summer our English teacher, Ryan McLean (Rev) set his classes up in a gaming scenario that forms the grading backbone for every lesson. He calls it “Dungeons & Classrooms.” Essentially the students are playing an education-oriented version of “Dungeons & Dragons”. Each student creates a hero character that will be adventuring on a quest with their classmates. This hero gains more abilities and skills as the student turns in assignments on time and delves into books from the class reading list. The climax of the game happens on testing day, called “Boss Battles”. Student characters face a challenge that can only be overcome by answering test questions verbally or on the board.

Rev’s initial goal was to find a way to engage our students, many of whom have multiple layers of learning challenges. And he was successful. Students were excited for test day, which is unheard of, and homework completion rose significantly. What he also found, was retention increased as well. The choice to create meaning around our lessons does not demand perfection. It demands intention, with an eye towards improving the potential of every student. And the joy of this work lies not in predicting the future but in creating it.