The first annual Knight's Bowl Dorm Challenge kicked off in mid-January and allowed dorms to compete against one another in the one category that means the most on campus: behavior. For years, dorms compete for the coveted Knight's Achievement Award each month as one of the four monthly awards given out at each assembly. This award reflects the best Knight's Club at the time and is largely based on qualitative evidence. But there are times when a larger carrot is needed to keep everyone focused and motivated on the positive momentum that is happening on campus. For this 4-week challenge, that incentive was an NBA basketball game for the winning dorm.
The points for the challenge were set up partially like a golf scorecard with negative behaviors gaining points, and identified positive behaviors subtracting points: the dorm with the lowest score after the four weeks winning the competition. Weekly winners were also identified with mini-prizes for each week. Examples of some of the items being scored include being on time to school, recruiting new pledges and Knights on the dorm, having successful weekends and home passes, and positive forcefield ratings.
We talk a lot about how becoming a Knight changes the lives of the students at Woodward Academy. But they are not the only ones who are impacted by the amazing culture on campus. The adults who work tirelessly with these students are also changed as a result of their time on campus and it is an experience that is unique and one they never forget.
Many staff members have made a career at Woodward Academy because they have fallen in love with the school’s mission. The work is not easy, but they know they are fundamentally making a difference in the lives of youth on a daily basis. This is the primary reason why staff continue to love Woodward Academy, but it is not the only factor. The staff highlighted here volunteered to be interviewed on camera as a part of a video series that you can see on our YouTube Channel. Through their discussions, a number of similarities arose as to why they love being a Knight and how Woodward Academy is more than just a job.
At Woodward Academy, no day is exactly the same and this flexibility appeals to a lot of people. Group Leader Darryl Stewart put it best when he said that he couldn’t work at a desk job. He said it’s just not him and prefers to be active with the students and fellow staff members to plan the day and come up with solutions to problems. This “family feel” approach was a common theme among these staff and they attribute much of their success to the support they received early on.
A lot of veteran staff members entered Woodward Academy straight out of college, knowing very little about the school. They anticipated it being a stepping stone to something larger, but fell in love with the philosophy, the culture, and how it challenged them professionally. At the time, they entered a world they knew little about, but over time were molded in the Woodward Academy way.
Program Director Ted Rives said it is the “best job I’ve ever had.” Case Manager Sierra Schnoebelen continues that sentiment when she says “It’s a job I wake up and want to come to work every day.” These staff make Woodward Academy successful and pave the way for the next group who decides to Become a Knight.
This story was originally published in Volume 40 of the Knightly Knews that you can download here.
It is Monday morning, and these group living staff members sit in a conference room around a table, planning to break inertia. Impromptu meetings are more their style, but with the balancing act of all of their responsibilities, and the fact that they spread out across campus, a formal meeting is needed. These staff members are some of the most veteran on campus and this meeting is one way that sets Woodward Academy a part from other residential facilities. Not the meeting itself, but what is accomplished.
In many ways, Woodward Academy prides itself on not being perfect. When your product is working with people, things go wrong and people make mistakes. With that notion in mind, change is easy to come by because it is built into the system. It is just something that naturally happens and the
culture evolves with it.
These weekly meetings are never the same, but have developed some consistencies over time. There is general information sharing, and opportunities to discuss calendar events. But much of the meeting is situational and addresses normative issues on campus. This team looks at what areas are lacking, how students can help brainstorm and resolve those issues, and then creates an actionable plan to work from.
When they all meet together, there is 140 years of Woodward Academy experience that helps develop the inertial guidance system that propels the school to success. Under the leadership of Group Living Director (GLD) Trent Fleshner, and newly promoted Assistant GLD Glen Miller, this group manages every student’s program at Woodward Academy, and supervises the vast majority of the staff members.
In September, Shawn Hollenkamp accepted the position of Executive Director at Woodward Academy, a return to campus for a company that he has spent the last 14 years of his career. After graduating from Iowa State University in 2001 with a degree in Child and Family Services, Shawn began his career at Woodward Academy in 2002 like many others, as a youth counselor.
Over the course of his career, Shawn has held many positions on campus including operating the daily shifts on campus in a Group Leader role, to supervising a dorm as Program Director. In 2006, Shawn was promoted to Group Living Director, a position he held until 2013 when he was once again promoted to Executive Director of Woodward Community Based Services (WCBS). Located in Des Moines, WCBS was “founded in response to the growing need to serve children, adolescents, and their families in their home community.”
When Shawn took over at WCBS, they were operating five separate community based programs. Under his leadership and with a great team, WCBS expanded their services and cast a wider net across the state to serve more needs. Tracking and monitoring, out-patient school based therapy, substance abuse treatment, and family peer support services were all added. WCBS also received a grant called Community Based Interventions, and a contract to be the Boone County Juvenile Court Liaison. Most recently, WCBS had been approved to provide residential in-home services for adults who are Severly Mentally Impaired (SMI).
Upon his return to campus, he is excited to meld his group living and community based experience into one, and he is excited to be back on the campus where his career started 14 years ago. The position opened after Ryan Santi, Executive Director from 2013 - 2016, was promoted to Vice President of Operations within Sequel Youth and Family Services. He will now help build facilities across the country within the Woodward Academy model.
What does it mean to be a Woodward Academy Knight? For many students, they would tell you that they have changed. That they are more mature and polite. They listen to feedback and are open to ideas. They are respectful, kind, caring, have empathy, and they have reflected on their past. They know what they did, and they now understand the ramifications of those actions.
As staff members, we initiate this difficult change and delight in watching it take hold in students. But that change happens on our campus, in isolation to the rest of the world. Few people see it happen, and even less think that it can. Eventually, many of our students must confront the fact that some people still think that they are criminals… that they are lazy and lack self-discipline, that they cannot amount to anything. So perhaps the greatest characteristic of a Knight is having grit and the desire to overcome those obstacles, because "those people are wrong."
Over the course of their stay at Woodward Academy, these students have come to that conclusion honestly. Their change is authentic, and now they see their future as bright as ever. Months ago, these students were on a collision course toward incarceration, or an even worse fate. Now they can say "I am a Woodward Academy Knight. I will never accept negative behavior. I will never quit."
What is the ripple effect of this change? The goal is to help every student who attends Woodward Academy with their immediate micro-behavioral needs. We want them to be kind and respectful, and be able to listen. They must suppress some of their immediate behavioral urges, and get rid of others all together. For many students, this can happen very quickly (within weeks), and it starts them on the path toward the real benefit of being a Knight. On a macro level, this change takes hold to course correct their life. It serves a long term purpose so that they will be able to share their wisdom with their brothers, sisters, cousins, and friends. Being a Knight means that our students have an opportunity to be a quality student, a great son, and eventually a good employee, spouse, mentor, and father. That is what happens when you Become a Woodward AcademyKnight, and that is how you change tomorrow.
Every time a student discharges from Woodward Academy, they complete an outcomes survey. They rate our services and are allowed to write comments.This is our opportunity to test the formal vs informal. Is what we are really doing what we say we are doing? This helps us identify gaps in our services and allows us opportunities to fix it. Overwhelmingly, our students talk about the great people they had helping them, the support they had, and an overall great experience being a Knight. After the break, we have copied some student responses to offer a quick snapshot of some of the comments we received from the past three months. We have identified areas we want to improve upon, but the message was clear that students have benefited from the Woodward Academy experience.
We are excited to unveil the 2015 Guide to Woodward Academy. If you want to learn more about what it means to be a Knight on campus, you can now download our new expanded brochure. As a PDF document, this expanded brochure is perfect for printing or reading on your computer or tablet. It is great way to show prospective students and families the school they will be attending because it covers nearly every aspect of Woodward Academy life including student culture, athletics, education, and clinical services.
Next time you're on campus, you can pick a handful up and share with your families, friends, and colleagues. If you want to see it right away, it can be downloaded on our website or by clicking here.
The following article was featured in our 20th Anniversary edition of the Knightly Knews. You can download a pdf version of the publication by clicking here.
On July 10, 1995, the Woodward Academy opened as an all-male residential treatment facility for boys ages 12-18. The 1980’s and 1990’s saw a rise in juvenile crime across the country, and Governor Branstad wanted to address the problem. Woodward Academy was created in response to legislation passed by the Iowa Legislature calling for the establishment of rehabilitation programs for troubled youth. On that day, Woodward was one of two “boot camps” established in the state (the facility in Davenport no longer operates).
The four students and 13 staff members who started on that day had no idea that over the next two decades, Woodward Academy would become one of the best juvenile treatment facilities in the nation. Those humble beginnings have grown into a school that has a student population of 265 students and that employs 235 staff members. Every day, students receive the clinical services they deserve, are offered an educational curriculum from certified teachers, and are given opportunities to excel in high school athletics. Although Woodward Academy is labeled a treatment facility, it operates like a private prep school where students are proud to be Knights.
Twenty years ago today 4 students and 13 staff started our journey to where we are today. Out of those four students, the first graduate is now a successful chiropractor, married and raising a family. Yesterday afternoon we admitted our 5000th student. Truly an amazing feat we should all be proud of. Especially in a day and time where most programs do not make it 5000 days let alone being able to admit 5000 students.
When I was a TCM in 1996 I wasn’t thinking about the impact I was having every day on our students’ decisions and ultimately their lives. As I have grown in this company and seen the greatness we have achieved, that impact has become all the more important and a daily focus. Please understand that every moment on this campus matters and you are trained and prepared to meet the demands of anything that comes your way.
Thank you for all you do for Woodward Academy and Sequel Youth and Family Services. We are the best residential facility in this company and I believe the best in the nation at what we do. I challenge each of you to make the next 20 years better than the first!
Having dedicated and invested staff members is our greatest asset as a school and it is a primary reason why our students have amazing opportunities for success. Trent Fleshner, William Terry, and Jason Anderson are three of those members and they sat down and talked about how they are building WA in this ongoing video series. You can see the first video embedded above with the other two after the break.
Every day, the collective staff at Woodward Academy works with students to help them make positive decisions in their life. Whether it be guiding students in phase work, teaching them how to add fractions, or confronting their negative behavior, it can become very easy for these things to become common place and to lose sight of the impact that we have on these students. Over the past 11 years, I have seen a lot of things, yet I am reminded about the work that we do here at Woodward Academy. One of those conversations happened last week.
I was in my office when a student told me how he was frustrated that he was being asked to stay at Woodward Academy for a few months longer. This was a student who had attended WA for about a year and he had been performing well. He is a Knight, active in athletics, and has good relationships with students and staff. But he had it in his mind that he would be able to go home and didn't handle the news the best that he could have. Part of me was sympathetic toward his feelings of wanting to go home because he deserved it.
Pictured are a couple WA Knights with Executive Director, Ryan Santi, and Group Living Director, Trent Fleshner, at the Coalition for Family and Children's Services Legislative Breakfast, held at the Iowa State Capital. The Coalition's breakfast is an annual event where state legislators are invited to meet with over a dozen members of the Coalition, including Woodward Academy. Awards are presented for work done with the children of Iowa and it also provides facilities face time with legislators to discuss relevant issues. Victor Fuller and Gabe Lee, Executive Knights on campus, did a great job explaining to the Senators of Iowa about the WA Experience and many gained some understanding of the services that WA provides.
At the end of each sports season, Woodward Academy recognizes its athletes with a banquet filled with catered food and awards. On Wednesday, the football and cross country teams were honored in front of the entire student body. The football team announced that Darius Scott-Crayton was selected as a part of the 1st Team All-District Team with four players making the 2nd Team and two additional being honorable mention.
In his final comments, Woodward Academy's Athletic Director, Cade Iversen, talked about the Knight's sportsmanship. Based on a 1-4 rating, the high schools in the state of Iowa are assessed a number that indicates their character on the field. The average across the state is about a 2. For Woodward Academy, we averaged 1.17 among all sports.
Some people think that sportsmanship is important, but a novelty award at best. At Woodward Academy, it is something that we highly value because it reflects who we are and what we strive to do as a school. Each coaching staff has a goal to produce not only solid athletes, but to build character in those athletes. Without character, Woodward Academy would not have sports. Years ago when WA was building its athletic program, there was some opposition from members of other communities when our teams would compete against their school… and that's understandable. But over the course of the past 5 years, we have broken down those barriers and now parents and schools welcome us into their schools. At every event, we compete hard and at a lot of them come out victorious. When it is all over, the parents of those schools thank our kids for playing and wish us luck in the future. In the process Woodward Academy is no longer a school for juvenile delinquents. This is because of our students character and our 1.17 sportsmanship rating that we will continue to take seriously.
We are very pleased to unveil our new promotional video titled The Woodward Academy Experience. In 2008, we produced our first video that looked at campus life and we've been using it since then. Rather than update that video, we decided to start fresh with all new footage. Last fall we slowly started capturing footage for the video and recently edited it all together. It is a great overview of Woodward Academy and specifically looks at dorm life, education, athletics, vocations, and the Knights Club. We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share with others.
Ja'Heil Francis if from the Virgin Islands and was recently profiled in his local newspaper, the Virgin Islands Daily News. You can read the complete article online by clicking here, or after the break we have scanned a copy for viewing.
The article touches on how Ja'Heil was "one of the many misguided youth we hear about daily" in the Virgin Islands, but his story on how he arrived at Woodward Academy is a little different. Ja'Heil's father was the one who pushed the juvenile court program in the Virgin Islands to send Ja'Heil to Woodward Academy. In fact, when some WA staff went down to interview him and other students, Ja'Heil's father wanted them to take him back to Iowa that day.
Ja'Heil has had a very successful stay at Woodward Academy. He is a top student on his dorm and athletically has excelled. This spring, he traveled to Denver as a part of the National Champion powerlifting team, qualified in the shot put at the State Track & Field Meet, and played baseball this summer for the Knights. After the break, you can see the article that profiles Ja'Heil.
At the Open House yesterday, Woodward Academy's new mobile web application was unveiled and you can install it today. The web app is the next step in helping communicate to those outside of Woodward Academy's campus of all of the opportunities afforded to students. Titled "The Woodward Academy Experience" the app showcases WA's different programs, dorm life, athletics, vocations, and educational opportunities.
The cool thing is that it is something that you can always take with you. Once installed on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device, you can access the information anytime. The app also links directly to our blog and has icons where you can directly contact WA by phone or email. After you take a look at it, there are also icons that help you share the app with others.
We are really excited about the new app and hope that you take time to get it installed today and share it with others. We would love to get it on as many phones as possible. After the break, you can watch a video that presents the the purpose behind the app and how simple it is to get it installed.
We try to do our best to keep our readers informed of what is happening at Woodward Academy. We also pride ourself on having a graphic, and some times additional images, for each blog post. It helps send a visual message for the post that can go along with the content. But only a handful of the pictures ever make it to the blog. Most images from sporting events or other events on campus never make the cut. That is why we have our Knight Pics website. You can access the website by clicking here and some time catching up on the latest sporting events or past campus posters.
The Knightly Knews always likes to look at Woodward Academy history in order to step back and respect where we have come from. The following article of Jerry's Notes was original published in Volume 21 of the Knightly Knews. If you didn't have a chance to see it, click here and download a .pdf version of it.
Jerry's Notes are intended to pass along some WA history and observations of life on campus. To bring you up to speed, Jerry Anderson is an original employee of Woodward Academy and has held several positions including that of business manager. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the Woodward Youth Corporation and had the second education center named in his honor.
