Exit Planning at WA

When a student first attends Woodward Academy, the focus is on their behavior and what they had done to get themselves adjudicated. As time goes by, and the student works their program, the focus of what they had done in their past shifts to what they are going to do after they leave campus. Exit planning for students often begins months before the student is actually ready to leave. It can include helping them rebuild relationships with family members, equipping them with problem solving skills for scenarios that may take place, and establishing an academic plan for their arrival. Sometimes students do not return home, but rather go on to live on their own after WA. For these students, exit planning is particularly important to help them get positioned for success. This was the case with Jaime who recently left.

It was anticipated that Jaime would attend Woodward Academy until he discharged into the real world. He was fantastic on campus, a leader in a lot of ways, and he gained many of the benefits that positive Knights receive. Because of his hard work, Jaime accomplished a lot and set himself up for success upon leaving. During his time on campus, Jaime earned his high school diploma, and afterwards worked on campus. As a student worker, he was able to earn a couple thousand dollars that he took with him when he left. He set up a bank account and gained an understanding of how to manage money and use a debit card. He also attended a 30-hour welding class at the Des Moines Area Community College during his stay, which qualified him to be a welding assistant.

When it was time to go, Jaime received some bonus exit planning. Jon Shelness, Educational Liaison at Woodward Academy, drove him to Ohio and together they spent a couple days getting this set up. They visited the Job Corps recruiting office in Columbus as well as the Columbus State Community College where they met with an adviser. They filled out some job applications and together toured the neighborhood to get him acquainted with the area. Whatever happened in his past, Jaime was a great student on campus who exhibited sincerity and a strong work ethic. We are happy to have helped him pave a road toward his bright future.

National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC)

The NCRC is a standardized test that is designed to assess workplace employability skills in a person. It comes from the makers of the ACT, a standardized test used for college admittance, and is being readily utilized at Woodward Academy.

Once a month, 10-15 students take the three, 45 minute tests and can earn a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum rating if they pass. About 80% of students at WA who have taken the test have earned one of these ratings. Samantha Sperling (School Counselor) and Jon Shelness (Educational Liaison) have been certified to be proctors of the test, and it has served as a good portfolio building component for students.

The three individual tests are in Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information. The assessments measure "real world" skills that employers believe are critical to job success, and the test questions are based on situations in the everyday work world. After receiving their certificate, students are encouraged to use it in interviews for employment. Past students have used it and reported back that they truly believe it helped them secure employment. So far, the test has been administered 6 times on campus, and will continue to be utilized in the future to help students transition away from WA.

Culinary Arts Major

Victor Fuller recently participated in his orientation day at Iowa Central Community College as he prepares for college life later this fall. He spent time signing up for classes, worked on his financial aid, and was exposed to what campus life has to offer such as computer and support services. As a Culinary Arts and Restaurant and Hospitality Management major, Victor also took an extended tour of the culinary arts program.

The head of the program is Chef Michael Hirst, who led the tour of this area and laid out what he expects from his students. One of the most interesting things was the "daily evaluation" rubric he presented the students. After looking at the document, it was amazing at how accurately it married the values that are taught at Woodward Academy every day. Students in his program are evaluated on their acceptance of instruction, dependability / punctuality, initiative / enthusiasm, overall attitude in the work place, personal appearance, and quality of work. These are the characteristics that he views as valuable in the classroom and workplace. For Victor, it also cemented the values that he has been exposed to while attending WA.

WA Students Visit Job Corps in Denison

Last week, four WA students visited Job Corps in Denison, Iowa and took a tour of the facilities. Job Corps is the nation's largest education and training program for young people 16 to 24 years of age to learn skills that will be valuable in the workplace. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and free to students who qualify as low income. There are 125 centers across the nation including several in Iowa.

Pictures are WA students on the Denison campus in an area called HBI. It is where students learn the basics of carpentry, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, roofing, and other skills necessary in the construction industry. The Denison center also has courses in brick masonry, tile setting, as well as in health occupations including a certified nursing assistant, and pharmacy technician. The trip was planned as an opportunity to expose students to what options are available to them as they begin to transition away from WA.

Family Fun Day 2013

Woodward Academy's Family Fun Day was held on Saturday with an amazing turnout despite the marginal weather. A total of 236 guests came to campus to spend time with WA students and to take part in the planned activities. For many family members, it was their first time on campus and it gave them an opportunity to see what happens at Woodward Academy.

Guests could split their time between various presentations, games in the gymnasium, or just talking with their son. Tours of dorms were organized in the morning and stations set up in the school buildings to educate visitors about WA vocations, athletics, education, treatment, or community based services. The grill was fired up for lunch and the drum line performed in the afternoon for some entertainment. Overall, it was a great day for many of the students and their families to spend some time together and for those families to have a better grasp of all of the opportunities that are offered to students. You can check out more images of the day by clicking here to visit our Knight Pics site.

Save the Date(s)!

Dates have been announced for two of Woodward Academy's biggest annual events: the Open House and Knight's Scholarship Golf Tournament. If you have not been involved in these events yet, now is the chance. Like every year, the spring season is our busiest with some other on campus events as well. Below is a breakdown of what can be expected in the upcoming months. Mark your calendars!

Knowledge Bowl (March 8) - An all day competition that pits dorms against each other to see who is the smartest. With questions based on their academic classes, the winning dorm earns a huge day off campus. Past winners went to see a broadway show in Chicago with another an NBA basketball game in Minneapolis.

Graduation (May 23) - Commencement ceremony that celebrates our high school graduates.

Open House (June 6) - The day kicks off with a grueling 5K race that forces its competitors to run through a creek and up a muddy Iron Man (70 degree hill). After lunch, campus visits are arranged where guests can meet with students.

Knight's Golf Tournament (June 28) - Held at the Beaver Creek Golf Course in Grimes, Iowa, the four man best ball tournament helps support WA's Knight's Scholarship Fund. To date, eligible alumni have received financial support in college and with independent living needs.

For more information on any of these events, call us at (515) 438-3481.

College Begins!

Although it is not common, there are times when students who are attending Woodward Academy have already received their high school diploma. Typically, these students are starting to make plans as they begin to transition away from Woodward Academy. Many of them pick up jobs here on campus, making some additional money for the next stage in their life. Others are able to begin taking some college courses. Beginning this week, four WA students started online college courses through the Des Moines Area Community College. These courses included a contemporary literature course, a class on blueprint reading, one on sustainable science methods, and another in psychology.

WA has picked up the initial costs associated with these courses with hopes that they will be the start of a full college education. Students are dedicating portions of their day to the classes and are already learning time management and important study skills that all college freshmen typically struggle with. Weekly assignments and online discussion requirements are allowing the WA students to get a taste of how challenging college can be. As a result, they will be able to make calculated decisions about college after they leave Woodward Academy.

ACT Prep

In December, Woodward Academy's School Counselor, Megan Wych, set up an ACT mock test for 47 WA students who are either juniors or seniors this year and are planning the next step in their education. Wych proctored the full-length ACT exam, which provided students with good experience of what testing conditions would be like on an actual testing date. Currently, students have an opportunity to know their score and can review testing struggles to further identify a plan of action for increasing their score. Not all students will go on to take an actual ACT test, but for those who are considering college, other assessments such as the Compass Test are required for admission purposes and taking advantage of this process will ultimately help them.

How Students Get a Homepass

With Thanksgiving this week and the Christmas holiday season next month, a number of Woodward Academy students will have an opportunity to spend that time with family back home. Not all students will be at home, however, but will spend the Thanksgiving and holiday breaks on campus at WA. Getting a home pass is a part of the transition process and often occurs as a students enters the final phases of their individual programs. Although every student's situation at Woodward Academy is different, getting a home pass is a part of the process of returning home and generally requires a student to be a Knight and is successfully moving through their program. Check out the graphic after the break.

The Next Crew of College Bound Students

Every week, Woodward Academy's Educational Liaison, Jon Shelness, works toward transitioning students away from WA.  He makes contacts with home high schools and helps make arrangements for when the students return.  Beyond that, he is one of the leaders in a recent push to engage students in higher educational opportunities.  Between college visits and taking students to Job Corps campuses, many prospective college bound students are receiving opportunities to make knowledgable choices on their post-secondary options.  Pictured is a recent trip that Shelness took to Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Iowa where three WA students spent some time with three WA alumni who are currently attending ICCC.  These types of contacts are important as they demonstrate that it is possible to succeed regardless of any indiscretions made in a student's past.

Welding Course Update

In May, we reported on a welding vocational class that WA students started taking at the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC).  You can read that blog post by clicking here.  To recap, the 4 week course taught the basics of welding and served as an introduction into the field.  More students are currently enrolled in the course and are receiving hands-on experience as indicated by the image.  Students are hand chosen for the class based on interest and transitional needs.

Phase Five House Opens

The Phase Five House opened this week after months of planning and preparation.  Currently, four students are living at the house that is supervised by WA staff.  The house serves as a fifth phase in our program and is being utilized to help bridge the gap between residential treatment and the next stage in a student's life.

To catch everyone up on what the Phase Five House is and to see some images inside, read more after the jump.

Students Welding

This past weekend, three students started a 30 hour welding course offered by the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC).  As an introductory course, students are learning the basics of welding, including how to handle and operate equipment properly.  Over the next three weeks, students will go hands-on with safety equipment and begin welding.  It is Woodward Academy's first attempt at the course, and we hope to utilize DMACC's facilities and resources more in the future.  More will be reported on this in the next edition of the Knightly Knews that will be published in June.

Meet the Mowing Crew: A Vocational Update

With the spring season fully upon us, that means lawn care... and Woodward Academy has a lot of campus to keep up and keep looking nice.  For the last couple years, WA students have had the opportunity to work on the mowing crew and are responsible for the mowing and landscape maintenance of the surrounding WA campus.  Currently, the students working on the crew are high school or GED graduates, with more job opportunities opening up this summer for those still in high school.

Read more after the jump.

Dorm Life: How do you do laundry again??

When students attend Woodward Academy, they leave behind the comforts of home and the pampering of mothers and family. When this happens, they are expected to care for themselves in some ways and meet certain expectations of cleanliness and personal hygiene. As boring as it sounds, taking care of personal laundry is a small portion of the tasks that students must attend to on a weekly basis.

Though it doesn't happen often, there are times when students come to WA with no experience of running a washing machine or folding laundry. They are quickly taught how to do these things and learn an important life lesson in the process. Each dorm operates their laundry differently, but most have scheduled days for students with additional machines located on campus. Maintaining a clean dorm, which includes personal wall lockers is all a part of the process. Being neat is an expectation!

"Leaving the Past Behind"

Next week college starts for several Woodward Academy students who will make their transition away from WA and into the real world. Starting in the spring semester, five students will start begin taking a full load of college courses while learning to live a completely independent life. Two will be attending Grandview University, one at Kirkwood Community College with the other two taking courses at DMACC campuses across Iowa.

Titled "Leaving the Past Behind", this image depicts a student who has assessed his life and decided that he would rather go down another road. The five students who start college next week made this decision while attending Woodward Academy. After that decision was made, the college prep process began which included taking post-secondary tests and making decisions regarding where to attend college. Some students are taking classes closer to home while others needed to make the difficult decision to stay away from home.

Volume 21 of the Knightly Knews that will come out later this spring will take a closer look at the process that occurs to place students in college.