Fieldstone Academy Boarding School

Another success story!

2011-12-09T11:16:00.003-07:00

Okay, for this story we bring up a truly exceptional young man-in more ways than one!

Angel came to us as a young man with extreme trouble with concentration and focus. Acronyms like ADD and ADHD were used early and often before he came to us.

In class, he had serious problems concentrating for more than a minute or two at a time. Our teachers would have him sit close to them so they could repeatedly "bring him back" every time his attention wandered. A tap on the arm, calling his name, etc. just to keep him with the rest of the class.

Over time Angel's concentration improved and he was better able to focus on classwork. We were also pleased to see his relationships with peers and parents improve as he matured into a responsible, hard-working young man. He was continually willing to help both staff and other students and was a fine example of what can be accomplished with hard work and consistency.

He graduated from Fieldstone with the GPA and study skills to succeed in college. Good work Angel!

Bunnies...

2011-12-07T14:31:00.002-07:00

We had a few rabbits/bunnies for awhile here at the school, and I believe we still do! Meaning that the students loved them but weren't perfect at keeping them in their hutch!

I assume we will see some of their children come spring running around the horse pasture!

Just a good picture!

2011-12-07T14:25:00.002-07:00

A group of students, young and old, and the little boy of one of the staff members! Just hanging out.

Devil's Sandbox

2011-12-07T14:06:00.007-07:00

We have been enjoying an extended fall season this year, and we have been taking advantage of it! One of the favorite field trips recently has been to a place called Devil's Sandbox.

The name isn't flattering, but the scenery is amazing and the view is breathtaking. It is north of Bryce Canyon National Park, but really it is a stand-alone example of how beautiful our state is.

For reference, you can see our 15-passenger van and some of our students in this picture.

The other fun part of it is that climbing to the top requires a lot of effort, but no serious climbing equipment, so the willing are rewarded with some spectacular views!

In December in Utah, and still outside like this! Amazing.

This cube is something the boys found. It is nearly a perfect cube of stone but without tool marks...interesting!

Fieldstone Dance!

2011-11-17T12:02:00.002-07:00

We had a lot of fun a couple Saturdays ago when we hosted a dance at the school! I went around and religiously took pictures, of course, but then made the mistake of letting one of the students handle the camera for awhile!

All pictures accidentally deleted...

Of course we will not mention any names in this horrible crime against this blog post; however, on an entirely different topic, our thanks to Logan for his help at the dance! :)

Everyone had a good time and we had a pretty good turnout from the community. Of course, we only advertised it for a total of two days before we had it, so we didn't expect too much.

Our students wanted to have the dance nonetheless, and it was a lot of fun. We had a great DJ who came all the way from Utah County, and even the decorations were perfect (we left some of them up just for fun.)

We look forward to an even better dance next time, but this was a great start!

Three years behind...

2011-10-31T16:31:00.004-06:00

Basic facts: Alex (last name kept for privacy), from Chicago Illinois, 17 when enrolled, 18 when graduated. Came as a Senior in age but an early Sophomore by credits earned.

Alex suffered from anxiety when it came to school work. He had attended highly reputable schools and then home-based distance courses when he became dissatisfied with his progress in school. He came from a highly educated and highly successful family who wanted him to succeed but he had three years of work to catch up on.

He was referred to us by an educational consultant, Jeanette Spires, and took a very proactive approach to getting accepted and making the arrangements so he could attend. He was the first student we've had who actually made his own travel arrangements and bought plan tickets himself. He came with a great drive to succeed and a near desperation to repair his GPA and past academics.

Like most high school age students who have had problems academically, Alex struggled with math and algebra, and spent hours of extra time working with our math teacher. There are still marks on the wall under the whiteboard in our math room where Alex would sit for long periods working on equations while one foot tapped away!

Alex worked hard, stayed at the school during the summer terms, and kept his focus on not only graduating, but going on to college.

Alex graduated from Fieldstone in September of 2011 and is currently submitting applications to the colleges of his choice. Neither his GPA or his ACT scores will hold him back.

Academic Recovery

2011-10-31T10:25:00.003-06:00

People often ask what makes us different than other boarding schools. Though there are some smaller details like smaller class sizes and a very successful ACT Prep system, there is one thing that we excel in which is fairly rare in the boarding school industry:

Academic Recovery.

What this means is that we are willing to accept students who have fallen behind in their schoolwork or who have begun struggling in school. This ranges from students whose grades have dropped in the past month or two, to students who are behind by a year or more.

Our Academic Recovery system allows students to succeed who otherwise would have no hope of even graduating high school.

We will be posting some of our success stories on this blog to show what we have achieved in the past.

One statistic: Our incoming Academic Recovery students have an average GPA of 1.9. Our graduated Academic Recovery students currently have an average College GPA of 3.5.

Fall is here!

2011-10-25T12:22:00.005-06:00

Fall has most definitely arrived at Fieldstone Academy!

New students have arrived and classes are in full swing, but we have had a lot of very nice weather so we haven't really felt like fall had arrived.

We can see it now!

Of course, with Utah weather being like it is, we have about two weeks before the snows arrive!

Finally Summer!

2011-06-16T12:13:00.005-06:00

The wonderful thing about summer time is the possibility of impromptu water activities! This last weekend our students put out a small slip and slide and had a great time!

Take a look at one of our newest students, Abdul, having a great time!

Of course, no one said the water was warm!

Some students did discover that getting too close wasn't a good idea if they didn't want to get wet!

Even a member of our staff made that mistake!

Hamburger-pun intended!

2010-11-18T13:09:00.002-07:00

One of the things our Junior Boarding school students get to do is raise a baby calf. This is a wonderful experience for them and gives us many life teaching opportunities.

This little animal (the calf!) was affectionately named "Hamburger" by his student! He says he wants another one he can name "French Fries."

Welcome to Fieldstone Hamburger--we won't tell you about your namesake until you're older!

The Dirty Dash!

2010-11-12T13:44:00.005-07:00

The Dirty Dash is an event that is new to Utah, but is sure to be a favorite of at least our boys in the future! Here are some pictures of our business Director and his wife after they got done with the 10K version this fall. The course includes jumping over hay bale barricades, crawling through pipes, climbing over walls, slogging through a muddy swamp, and finally almost swimming across the finish line in a gigantic mud wallow! You simply cannot escape without getting Dirty!

We figured that a 10K run for most of our students would be more work than fun, but they are planning a 5K in the Spring that we hope to attend with our students!

Sure looks like fun!

Late Summer BBQ

2010-11-12T13:06:00.006-07:00

On occasion we like to have a barbecue with our students, especially when there's a good football game on! The students love helping get everything set up and working and then they all enjoy the barbecue!

Looking good!

2010-09-16T13:49:00.002-06:00

While at Fieldstone our students have the opportunity to participate in a lot of activities including the traditional sports at local high schools. Through agreements with neighboring districts, our students can play football, run cross country, in effect do anything they would have done at home!

Take a look at the young man in the blue jersey to the right of the pack with the dark hair. This is Angel, a returning student this year at Fieldstone. He may not be having fun right when this picture was taken, but he never misses cross country practice!

Back to a new school!

2010-08-23T17:10:00.007-06:00

We had a very exciting summer--as we're sure our students did!

What we did was discover an excellent opportunity to provide our students with a much larger campus and plenty of room for growth and special projects!

Our students will now get to enjoy a 22+ acre campus complete with large open areas and farming experiences, as well as a 38,000 square foot school with 26 classrooms, a full cafeteria, a large multi-purpose room, roomy halls, excellent natural lighting, and immense opportunity!

The pictures below are from before we closed on the property, and many upgrades are currently in the works. We will keep updating this blog as it progresses!

For another week or two our students will still be attending classes in our old building, but the transition will happen very quickly.

When we showed our current students the new building (the majority of our students have not yet arrived for the Fall), the spontaneous question of each was:

"When do we get to move here?" We're glad they are so excited!

Then here is a shot from above with the different areas identified. The ranch area behind the school will include a horse barn, enclosed riding area, and working farm areas.

Finally Spring!

2010-04-26T18:51:00.005-06:00

The weather finally broke long enough for us to go out on the ranch! We had some fences to build, some horses to ride, and a big hole to dig! The hole is because the lower ranch is on a very high water table, and even digging a small hole will create a natural watering hole! For our pigs that is especially popular as the weather warms up!

There is always a cleanup in the spring, but it gives us a chance for a great bonfire!

Notice the start of a sunburn? There were sunburns and some definite blisters, but look at that grin!
You wouldn't believe how much they pestered us to let them dig this hole! You'd think it was a party!

A Real Shop Class!

2010-02-23T10:07:00.004-07:00

We used to assume that all boys knew how to change tires, but we learned that was not accurate! In this case, they got to learn about changing tires as well as how brakes, brake pads, and calipers all work together!

They were even more interested than they look! Or maybe they were just glad to be inside the garage instead of out in our Utah snow!

Winter on the ranch!

2010-02-11T16:44:00.003-07:00

Here's where you can really have some fun out on the ranch! In the summer it is more pleasant, but this time of year the animals really do need us to survive! We have thoroughbred mares getting ready to foal, sows having litters, and steers growing up all in the bitter cold. It gives our students and our staff a great chance to prove their stamina!

Want to know what happens when the outside water pipes freeze? Animals still need water, so out we go with buckets if need be! You'd be amazed how much the boys talk about these experiences when they go home!

Welcome back!

2010-01-06T16:14:00.002-07:00

Our students had a great holiday at homes across the nation, and we were glad to have them back. We learned to appreciate flights that didn't get canceled or delayed since we had too many of the other kind, but we got them all back and we're headed into a new round of classes!

Even though we love the scenery of the winter time, our students are already looking forward to the warm of spring! We'll get some schooling done before that comes, but we'll be glad too!

Winter has come!

2009-10-29T16:15:00.004-06:00

Welcome Father Winter, come on in!

Right before we took this picture a bunch of snow actually slid off the car closest to the camera, there was more!

This is what our first real storm of the year looks like up on the ranch!

Castle Rock Field Trip

2009-10-29T16:09:00.006-06:00

These pictures may be a little small from being taken on a staff's phone, but take a look at some of the sights our boys were able to take in during their last field trip!

You've heard of Where's Waldo, this picture is "Where's the student?"

Everyone had a great time!

No melting allowed!

2009-10-05T13:59:00.007-06:00

Along with our new pigs came a need for new shade! Pigs don't worry too much about cold, especially the 600-700 pound versions like our Berks, but pigs have an interesting characteristic that makes heat a problem: they don't sweat. A big sow like one of ours will die in the open sun if it gets too hot. Shade is the most important thing besides water and that is what we were building here with the boys.

He didn't want me taking pictures of him, hence the shyness!

We even had the help of our resident math teacher who made sure our angles were all correct!

In addition to shade we also had to make sure that the Berks stay within a certain area. This presents a problem given the size of the animals and their habit of burrowing. Wooden fences work, but they have to be massive and we prefer to move them around the ranch when necessary, so electric fences fit the bill!

Don't worry, they are humane for both pigs and humans! You can grab hold of it with your bare hand and you'll still be fine, you just won't enjoy the sensation much! For a 600 pound sow it is simply uncomfortable enough to make them want to stay away from the wires and eventually we don't even have to have it on.

Welcome Royalty--well, kindof!

2009-10-05T13:42:00.004-06:00

We have always had pigs on the ranch. They do well with the weather at out altitude and they have great personalities! We recently upgraded our herd, though!

Some of the more discerning tastes out there might know about Berkshire pork. It is also known by its Japanese name of Kurobuta. It is prized for its flavor and rare enough that there was only one breeder in Utah where it could be found.

That breeder decided to leave the breeding business, and we were the first of dozens to call looking for his stock! We got three sows and a boar from championship stock. Not only do they taste good, they are very good-natured and tough as nails when it comes to cold.

The only problem I have with them is they insist on getting mud on my pants when they are saying hello!
This picture isn't the best, but the Berkshires are the large black ones in the middle. The largest sow is over 600 pounds and all three are going to have a litter or pigs in the next couple of months. You'd be amazed at how excited the boys are about these pigs!

Wrestling Practice!

2009-09-21T16:04:00.004-06:00

As part of their day the boys have convinced one of our staff to give them wrestling lessons! Thankfully we have the facilities for just about anything and he has been having practices for them. It started out a little rough (the skills weren't there yet), and they're not professionals yet, but they look forward to it all day long!

It's a little blurry, but this is takedown practice!

We do suffer in practice by not having entire weight classes to practice with. The pair on the left is obviously a little mismatched, but it's good practice for the smaller of the two!

Good honest work

2009-09-11T11:22:00.007-06:00

No matter how many fun things we try to do with our students, they remember the ranch work as being the most enjoyable! It continually surprises us!

A lot of our boys haven't had a lot of opportunities to need work gloves before coming to us, but they get acquainted with them pretty fast!

He may be small, but he'll make a good ranch hand by the end!

A much-needed water break!

Stacking bales back at the ranch, this is vintage ranch work. When this student first came to us he could hardly lift the bale!

Welcome to the ranch!

2009-09-10T10:32:00.004-06:00

I'm sure many of the parents will not believe all that their boys are doing on the ranch. We hear about these boys before they come and hear all about how all they want to do is play video games or sit on the couch.

They're off the couch now! This last week they moved pigs, they hauled hay, and they met our many horses including Jean Valjean. A mustang so named due to his great strength!

Welcome New and Returning Students!

2009-08-26T21:42:00.002-06:00

This is the time of year when we welcome new students and returning students alike. Today was one of those days when we had staff at the Salt Lake International Airport twice! The first student was new and he has an excellent attitude about the change!

The second was one of our returning students who has been home for a summer visit. We're glad to have him back, the school simply wasn't the same without him!

All these students means one simple thing: back to the books! Tomorrow is already a big school day for us as we get these students started ahead of the start date. They'll get a little extra help and our instructors get warmed up for a busy year!

Home Visits, Graduation!

2009-08-17T12:18:00.003-06:00

We have a few students going home this week. Some are just going home for home visits, and one boy is graduating!

We can all remember when this young man came to us. He was as scared and rebellious as can be and did not want to even get on the plane to get back to Utah! He has come a long way and is doing great now and is well prepared to move on in life.

Most of these students we'll see again in a couple weeks, but we'll miss them while they're gone!

More than meets the eye!

2009-08-08T10:06:00.003-06:00

Last night the boys all got to go to the movies to see the new Transformers movie. It's been out for awhile, we know, but movies take awhile to get to Richfield and some of the boys and a couple of our staff hadn't seen it yet. Reviews were mixed!

A Little Tour

2009-08-07T15:58:00.001-06:00

This slideshow is a compilation of pictures of our school, our ranch, some field trips to national parks, etc. Enjoy!

Scholarships Available!

2009-08-07T15:55:00.000-06:00

Our Administration has announced that there are a limited number of scholarships currently available. These are need-based scholarships that are intended to make our services available to those who would not otherwise be able to afford a boarding school.

Contact us to apply.

Mustangs!

2009-08-07T15:35:00.000-06:00

We learn all about bad stereotypes here at Fieldstone Academy, but these are the first ones that don't have to do with young men and their behavior and school work.

Mustangs are reputed to be small, inbred, and relatively plain.

We adopted a few of them for our students to care for and we have debunked that theory!

This is a young palomino gelding. He is not yet 2 years old but he will stand at least 16 hands tall when fully grown. Can you imagine a nicer looking palomino? And so friendly he will almost climb into the laps of his masters.

This is our next example of an incorrect stereotype! The Mustangs descended in part from the Spanish Andalusian, a horse know for its grace and beauty. If you look closely at this beautiful mare, you can actually see the distinctive wave of her mane that tells us of her Spanish ancestors!

Fun at the theater!

2009-08-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

Some of our students were able to participate in a play held by the city. I think we were all surprised how much they enjoyed themselves!
They're smiling now that it's over, but they'll have to take the stage makeup off eventually!

They sure had fun!