Atlantis Leadership Academy
Academy Values
The following is a guide to the core values that is our focus on the Atlantis Leadership Academy Campus throughout our Student’s day-to-day life.
Our Academy is dynamic and special in so many ways. We understand that many people may view your son as just being rebellious, stubborn or simply locked in a power struggle with you. And yes, at the moment that may appear to be the case. In contrast, we view their current situation as seeing those things as symptoms of how they are feeling and mirroring what is going on internally with them; the tip of the iceberg, if you will.
Perhaps you’ll note a direct connection to some of these values lacking in your son, being suppressed or even being misused. At ALA, we’re here to restore, return balance, or in some cases introduce for the first time a key value(s) they’ve altogether missed. We are here to build a healthy and balanced leader.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND INTEGRITY
The personal principals of Accountability and Integrity are not only addressed throughout a young man’s entire stay at ALA, they will very much be their first impression of our Campus culture. This is truly where we begin the foundation of our work with a young man. Guiding each young man to embrace personal ownership vs. blame, is a great path forward for us to create a bond between our Academy and a new student, and thus on with the rest of his world.
ADVANCED COMMUNICATION SKILLS
We teach our student the tremendous value in honest feedback. Whether it be from their peers, staff, family, or feedback for themselves for that matter. We guide them to move away from looking at feedback as a personal attack or something to fear. Instead, to run towards it as valuable information, thrive for it. In most circumstances in life, people will only provide you feedback because they love you, and that is why it is encouraged to always seek it out.
FAITH
The majority of our students have some sort of religious upbringing, of course some more active than others. Regardless of each young man's church attendance history, it can be very common for a young man to enroll with claims of atheism, confusion, anger at God, or simply indifference. This normally started at home prior to enrollment and is typically a symptom of a traumatic event at home; some examples can be divorce, death, abuse, adoption, rejection and so on. These thoughts and claims can also stem from rebellion and their commitment to push some very sensitive buttons of Mom and/or Dad. In any event, just as we are an opportunity to “reset” a young man's mental, physical, social, and family well-being, we support our students in resetting, or in some cases finding their spiritual well-being. Our students attend Church each week at Calvary Assembly for God, located just in front of our Campus. This is a very colorful Church with lots of music, dancing, inspirational messages and always welcome arms for our boys. Any one of our students will be the first to tell you, “You have not been to Church, until you have been to a Jamaican Church!” It really is a blast. And as a result of the energy and welcoming of the congregation, you will find each young man quickly reconnecting with what they know to be true in their heart and spirit. This creates one more building block in their path to becoming that whole, healthy and vibrant young man that we all know is locked up inside. In addition to our weekly Church service, we also participate in Harvest and other events. We also frequent other Churches in the area and have the availability for on-site Pastoral Counseling. We have even had students who have voluntarily requested, and proceeded with being Baptized while enrolled. (In concert with their parent's approval, of course).
PHYSICAL BODY
Your body is your vessel. Once a young man starts to master their personal health once again, then their energy, focus and vitality will be available to soak up all of the other Campus values listed here. You cannot experience an extraordinary quality of life without the vehicle that’s going to help you create it. Our students exercise a couple of times per day, 6-days a week, both on and off campus. We utilize a combination of team sports, core strengthening exercises, yoga, cardio, swimming, hiking, basketball, beach time, and so on. This is also complimented by a well-balanced diet, year-round sunshine, a stunningly beautiful environment, gardens and fruit trees.
SERVICE TO OTHERS
Giving to those in need is not merely a powerful experience and individual duty, it is part of the fabric of our Campus culture. You will see, when reviewing our student profile, and will discover that we seek out young men who have a good heart, a good mind though are making poor and often times risky decisions. Many of our young men have younger siblings, nieces, nephews, a Grandparent or someone similar that they have a soft spot in their heart for. Reconnecting our young men with those similar dynamics of a relationship quickly helps soften our student's hearts and helps further position us to be able to counsel and mentor them. Our Academy is committed to giving to our local community, and supporting our young men in these endeavors. Whether it is volunteering to clean up our beaches, volunteering at our local Elementary School(s), local Orphanage, assisting to help clean up a local widow’s property, service projects at our local Sports Park, or offering to help with projects at one of our local Churches. There is no shortage of ways we can lend assistance with our great group of young men. It helps keep them busy, as well as learning the value of volunteering to help others in need. At the end of the day they always receive more personal gain than the recipient. It is a win/win for all!
HARD WORK
At Atlantis Leadership Academy our students are responsible to maintain the whole facility, as well as their personal belongings and living space. Each day our students are responsible to address items such as dishes, laundry, repairs, grounds-keeping, mopping, dusting, whatever is required to maintain a clean and orderly environment. While engaged in these activities they will gain important life skills such as self-sufficiency, organizational skills, time management skills, and self-motivation. For some it takes time to get over the association that this is just work, but for many they welcome these “chores” as a therapeutic activity within their day. For the young man whose ‘entitlement issues’ have wreaked havoc in his life, this is an especially important process to begin.
RELATIONSHIPS
Once a young man has come to master some, if not all of the above values, they start to really flourish in their relationships among their peers. Having a strong sense of belonging among their peers is vital. Not only is their great harmony throughout the Campus, but each student really enjoys their day surrounded by friends who are genuine and have their best interest at hand. This continues to build self-esteem, self-worth, a sense of belonging and puts that young man in a position to want others to feel that way around them as well. This is where we can really disconnect the interest of their “old friends” at home. The priority has now shifted within their social interest.
FAMILY REUNIFICATION
Our students stay in consistent contact with their families throughout the process. We welcome family visits and require our students to stay in contact with his family. This may not always be fun interactions, though we get there eventually. This is due to the volume of growth your son will be making while enrolled at ALA. As your son grows, matures and becomes a master of his own healthy destiny, his values, and positive attitude, his relationship with his family flourishes in direct proportion. And more often than not, this is also a direct result of their family's healing and growing right alongside with their son. Atlantis Leadership Academy provides our families with ongoing training courses upon admissions, to ensure that the family is growing as a whole team, and on the same page. This also creates a sense of confidence in your son that you are doing your part too, which lends tremendous support and encouragement for him, lifts some pressure off of him, as well, as you work together as a family.