Long ago there was a program called “The Academy”. They had departments in Oregon and in Fiji.
Former students stated on Fornits:
My name is Grace and i lived at the Academy for 22 months. i barely survived the mental and physical torture of the Bridge campus and the Brainwashing life “seminars”i lived with a girl who was molested in Fiji, I was there when a boy with tourettes was made to dig a hole in bridge. i was there when male staff sexually harrassed female students in bridge.I saw patricia Thomass compleat lack of compassion. As a student i can tell you that no one there had any right helping people change there lives. A person who staffed my training and worked at the school and LIVED on the bridge campus commited suicide from a drug overdose. He was supposed to be teaching me how to live?
My two years there i spoke to Patricia once and all she did was push me to tell my parents to go to the Life Training Seminars ( 3 grand a session) that they forced on me.i will give ANY information to make sure Patricia and Ryan Thomas NEVER run another program.
and
I attended The Academy’s Oregon and Fiji campus. six months at each and left when i turned 18 in april of 2005.
I was in Fiji there for about 5 or 6 months. while i was there, we did have someone from the embassy come by and we were instructed to be “on our BEST behavior” by the director, Victor Kissun (i think thats the right spelling)
dont speak unless spoken to. dont discuss anything you are not directly asked about. tell them how well we take care of you and how happy you are here.it was effectively, a gag order and instruction to not make the school look bad in any way.
At the very least, i would say that this facility does condone the abuse of children when they see fit.
I saw a student be restrained and beaten by a staff member and another student. When i tried to stop this, i was
held down, had my hands and legs tied together behind my back and the other end of the rope tied to a beam in the ceiling so that i was unable to move or roll around anywhere. I was left like this for several hours. was forced to urinate on my self because they would not untie me. after this, i was held in isolation for about three weeks and had to sleep on the concrete floor.After being released from isolation, things became alot better because i was able to trade american clothing, shampoo/conditioner and other items we had for Marijuana and Tobacco leaf and rolling papers. I once smoke Marijuana, with one of the staff members, on the front porch of the directors house while he was off campus. The students in my dorm were almost always chewing Tobacco and some times even smoked Marijuana in the dorm room.
I smoked Marijuana with about 4 or 5 staff members in the 6 months i was there. I never could have gotten away with that at the Oregon campus.I am still in contact with others who attended these campus’ at the same time as my self. We would be happy to help out with any requests for information on this ‘school’.
The Academy as the first program was called didn’t bring profit in leading staffmembers created Scotts Valley School.
It is not a fun place to be as a a teenager
Sources:
- The Academy in Oregon and Fiji – what is known about them? (Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora)
- Factsheet about Scotts Valley School (Fornits Wiki)
