Northwoods Parents Say...
Ed has been enrolled at Northwoods for close to a year and is scheduled to
graduate with a high school diploma in December. Ed has a part time job working
in a local Sandpoint restaurant. He currently is riding his bicycle to and from
work, and is looking forward to the start of his driver’s education course.
Recently Ed's mother and grandmother came to visit him and stayed at the Sueno
guest house at Northwoods, both were impressed with how much Ed has matured
while at Northwoods.
"I was impressed with the level of activities and accountability provided to
the boys at Northwoods and it seems that boys have a good relationship with the
staff. It appears that you are good stewards of the tuition we pay, I am
reassured that my son is in a good place."
Kaye, Ed's mother
"You do such wonderful work with your students and I hope all the parents and
grandparents are as impressed and grateful as we were. You have done such a
wonderful job with all the students in your care, keep it up and you will change
the lives and futures of all."
Shirley, Ed’s grandmother
That morning I first looked at the Northwoods website three words jumped out
at me: "zest for life." I couldn’t help but reflect that someone had chosen
those words and it might say something about the people that our son, Connor,
would meet at Northwoods. I had no idea at the time how "dead on" that thought
was.
Fresh from a top-notch wilderness program, Connor came to Northwoods with some
apprehension. Honestly, his first month was pretty rocky. It took time for him
to make friends and for the group to gel. He tested the rules and got in
trouble. During that time Matt, Dave, the therapist and the staff stayed in
fairly close touch with my husband and me. Any concerns we had were welcome and
met with a not a bit of defensiveness. Before long though, Connor was clearly
thriving. He made friends. He loved the outdoor adventure aspect of the program
– cliff jumping, sailing, hiking, biking and kayaking. He took great pride in
showing us the trail the boys had built around the property at Sagle Farm.
Before long he was eagerly anticipating his time in Costa Rica.
The Costa Rican piece of the program is truly extraordinary. Dave Yeats calls it
"enrichment"; I call it transformative. What Dave and Matt started on a tent
platform in the rainforest has grown to 90 acres immediately adjacent to the
Children’s Eternal Rainforest with two houses including one where families are
welcome to stay when they visit. Toucans fly by; howler monkeys can be heard in
the distance. The vegetation is tropical and lush. (Think mud!)
Connor has thoroughly embraced the culture of Costa Rica. He lives in a fairly
typical Tico home with a warm, caring host family with three boys of their own.
He attends school during the day at La Casa de Northwoods which is going quite
well. He is learning Spanish at a furious pace and working toward fluency. The
students explore the rainforest nearly every day with staff guidance and Connor
has learned a tremendous amount about the ecosystem of the rainforest. They work
each day on the property. The week we were there they were clearing rocks from a
field to use it as a soccer field. Somehow he has gone from high risk behavior
to yoga, soccer, surfing, and weightlifting. He tells me that when he comes home
he will be trying not to eat anything with partially hydrogenated oil. (What was
that?) Most significantly though, he is remarkably comfortable in his own skin,
self-confident and very much focused on the future.
I call that a zest for life.
Connor is nearly half way through his year at Northwoods. He will attend a local
public high school in northern Idaho upon his return from Costa Rica. I expect
it will be far less exotic than the Costa Rican rainforest but that real-world,
re-entry aspect of the program appealed to us. He is looking forward to
snowboarding on Schweitzer Mountain and plans to play baseball in the spring –
an opportunity he thought he had blown. He hopes to return home for his senior
year.
We cannot know what the future holds for Connor but we have great hope. During a
time of raw heartache we put a lot of faith in people we didn’t even know but
struck us a sincere. We trusted in a small school with big vision and tons of
experience. We are not wealthy but have chosen to spend our money on what we
most value. At this point, it is hard to imagine that we will ever regret this
remarkable year at Northwoods. It will always be a part of who Connor is. It
will be a part of all of us.
Connor's Mom
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