One parent’s description of the “Greatest School on Earth” by Dean Dauphinais
When you’re a parent, one of the most painful things you can experience is watching your child struggle. It can be agonizing, because even though every ounce of your being wants to make things better, sometimes it seems like nothing works.
My younger son, Josh, started having difficulties in school in seventh grade. An extremely bright kid, he had been a model student up until then. Learning was easy for him and keeping up with his schoolwork was never a problem. So when things took a turn for the worse, my wife and I were perplexed.
But things started to make much more sense when testing revealed that Josh had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A common mental disorder among adolescents, ADHD’s symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention.
Bingo.
With an ADHD diagnosis in hand, we were able to get Josh’s middle school to put some accommodations in place in an attempt to make school easier for him. Even so, the rest of seventh grade was arduous at best, and eighth grade was a disaster. Then it was off to high school.
Ninth grade started off great, but Josh went into a tailspin after the first quarter. Again, the school allowed for some accommodations—extra time to take tests, the option to turn homework in late, etc.—but nothing really helped. Tenth grade was more of the same. Despite having an Individualized Education Program (IEP), learning was grueling for Josh. And homework? You don’t even want to know.
After tenth grade, my wife and I decided that we would not send Josh back to public school. That may sound crazy to some people, but forcing our son to go through another year of torture just wasn’t worth it to us. Even though he had accommodations, Josh was still being taught in mainstream classrooms, often times with 30 or more kids. He didn’t get the individualized attention he needed. As he himself so eloquently put it one day: “What difference does it make if I get extra time to take tests if I don’t know what I’m doing?” We needed to find an alternative learning environment for him.
Enter the Leelanau School, a non-profit, strength-based, experiential high school in Glen Arbor, Michigan.
Situated on the Leelanau Peninsula in beautiful northwestern lower Michigan, the Leelanau School embraces and celebrates students’ unique learning styles and ignites a passion for education. It’s a boarding school where students are safe and free to be kids, take healthy risks, and learn boundaries. This environment allows them to thrive, both academically and socially. In a culture of acceptance, Leelanau students don’t only learn English, history, math, and science; they also learn resilience, compassion, and the importance of civic virtue.
We toured the Leelanau School about a week before classes started and fell head over heels in love with it. Seriously, how could anyone not love the place? The campus is jaw-droppingly beautiful. It sits on acres of heavily wooded land with the Crystal River running right through the middle of it. It also has its own private Lake Michigan beach. Truly an idyllic setting snuggled up against what Good Morning America called the “Most Beautiful Place in America.”
While we were driving back home after our visit, Josh stated so eloquently: “I think this school could change my life.” And change his life it did.
Josh went from feeling lost in school to feeling welcome; from getting poor grades to getting excellent grades; and from not wanting to go to school to absolutely loving it. He blossomed into an excellent student, developed lifelong friendships with fellow students from around the world, and did things he never would’ve done in public school, like performing in plays; playing music and singing; and performing slam poetry for his senior project. Things he was able to do because he felt comfortable in his environment and had developed self-confidence.
Yes, the Leelanau School has small class sizes and a dedicated faculty. But it’s really much more than that. It’s a place where teachers’ dogs are free to roam the campus (including the classrooms). It’s a place that grows its own food in gardens and greenhouses and keeps its own chickens. And it’s a place where the staff doesn’t just teach the kids; they help them grow and mature as individuals, develop life skills and independence, and prepare for the next chapter in their lives. It truly is the greatest high school on earth—and the alma mater of Josh Dauphinais, Class of 2014.