Greg at Carolina Springs Academy (From:antiwwasp.us)

My name is Greg. I went to Carolina Springs Academy on Dec. 16, 1999. A week after my 16th b-day and 2 weeks before Christmas. I found this forum and thought it might be a cool place to vent about stuff that's been locked up for so long. I saw that movie 'Changeling' with Angelina Jolie and when she got sent to the psych ward it brought back all my boarding school memories. I've always had the memories, and dreams of being back in boarding school and I just had nothing to do with them. So I'll just share them with you guys. I didn't really see a need to 'share' them with anyone until it all kinda surfaced after the movie. I have yet to talk to my parents about any of the things that went on at CSA or TB. I'm currently 25 yrs old, I have a 4 yr old daughter and work as an x-ray tech in Texas.

So when I started out at CSA I was so shocked I didn't want to talk to anyone. They sent me to a room behind the cafeteria where they had a kid that was in trouble. I later found out that he had committed a level 3 offense or higher and that's why he was by himself in this room with a staff member. As much as I try to remember people's names from CSA or TB I have a hard time doing it. So I don't know his name but he told me he had 3 nuts and I started laughing. I started talking after that and got shuffled into the deck with the rest of the students.

At CSA I was in the 'Ragazzi' Family. I remember we had an Italian kid in our group that we thought was cool. He basically named our family. I remember making the family banner or flag. Someone asked if I could 'tag' and I said 'yeah' knowing I could draw. I made the Ragazzi family banner with bold old english letters and later found out 'tagging' was gangster graffiti. So no I couldn't 'tag' but I made a banner everyone liked. I think I even put an Italian flag in the background.

I remember in the beginning thinking that everyone in my 'family' at CSA was normal. There was a tall lanky kid that had obvious mental retardation problems. I remember we would all wrestle or fight him just cause he was so weak. Beating up on him always made us feel a little better. I don't get any joy out of thinking about beating him up. I just know it's what we did. So in light of this being an antiWWASP forum and if a parent is reading this, know that certain kids are singled out for not being the in-crowd and some fighting or beatings were allowed by staff.

I feel like I could sit here and tell stories all day, and I might try to until someone emails me or something and tells me how they know me and I'll see if I can remember you.

I eventually got sent to Tranquility Bay after being at CSA for 11 months and running away. I promise I'll tell that story one day. 2 hired thugs came and got me up in the middle of the night and drove me to an airport in Atlanta and then to Montego Bay, Jamaica. We took the longest drive to St. Elizabeth parish on the south side of the island to TB. I was in the 'Honor' family in TB. I remember being scared of TB cause of all the rumors I heard about it while I was in CSA. I remember they were even sending upper-levels from TB to CSA to tell us to 'shape up' or else we'd go there.

I remember not wanting to participate in any 'program' stuff like progress or earning levels so I just kept to myself and obeyed the rules to avoid worksheets and OP. And I did for a long time. I think I was in TB for 3 months just not sharing in group. I think I only went to worksheets once so I was sitting on a massive stack of 'points'. My only outlet at TB was school. Yeah, we had no teachers, just learning by reading books and taking chapter tests. I'd started realizing I might get to go home if I was 'doing good' when I graduated high school.

I started to share in my family groups in TB when it was getting close to me graduating. I had been a level 5 at CSA so I knew what everyone wanted to hear. I shot right up from level 2 to level 3, I think level 2 was a 'give me' anyway with points wasn't it? The only difference between level 2 and level 1 in TB was level 2's got snacks on saturday with the movie? I dunno, it's almost been 10 yrs. When I got level 3 it was kinda controversial because I really hadn't been 'sharing' or 'doing good' that long and I almost had level 4 points. I remember all these people in my family opposing the idea of me getting level 3 and definately the level 4 to come with so little length of participation. I remember needing to do something DRASTIC to get support to get voted to level 4 before I graduated.
I convinced all my classmates that I'd sent a letter home to my parents saying that no matter what my parents said when they visited for graduation I told them that I wanted to graduate the program. Everyone was thinking what I was. They thought if I was level 4 by the time I graduated high-school that my parents would take me home. This 'commitment' from me saying I would graduate the program level 6 yada yada was good enough to get voted to level 4 by my staff and upper levels in my family. I just remember it being a record how fast I got level 4 at TB. Thing is, when my parents got there for graduation and I graduated in May of '01 with 2 other people my parents asked me to come home.

We were sitting at the tables by the pool underneath some trees. I remember when my parents asked me to come home I just started crying. I kinda didn't think it was real. All my suffering was finally over. I'd never sent the letter saying I wanted to stay in the program and graduate it. I took my parents up on the offer. The staff let me go back and say good-bye to my family, they were in the classroom. I remember a kid(sorry I don't remember any names from these schools) he had gone into this 'pact' with me about sending a letter home. He was a level 3 trying to get voted into level 4 too. He kinda jumped on my bandwagon but actually sent the letter home to his parents saying that he wanted to stay in the program and graduate no matter what. The Honor family didn't vote him to level 4 though. The damage was done because his letter had been sent. I remember seeing him as I was leaving. It didn't occur to me then why he gave me such a painful look. He was stuck there and partly because of me and my scheme to get out. If you happen to read this and you are the kid that was stranded there by your parents because I convinced you to write them a letter to keep you there I'm sorry.

Most of my thoughts every day while I was locked up for 17 months at these schools were 'how can I get out of here'. It's a shame I can't say has anyone heard from this name or that name. I just don't remember anyone's. I'm just going to keep telling stories in this forum until people start emailing me telling me who they were and how they remember me. My email is xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx (Email removed due to privacy) I know it's long. These posts will probably help me to do something productive with all the memories i have of CSA and TB.

To close this post, I just want to say to any parent that these schools are not any place I'd send my child. I think I got sent to these boarding schools because my mother was having issues in her life and she didn't have the time or patience to deal with mine as a teenager. If anyone needs anything, I'd love to chat. If I find a good spot just to blog about my boarding school experiences I'll post it somewhere so if anyone who is interested can find it.

Greg


Sources:

• The original testimony on Antiwwasp.us
• Factsheet of facility (Fornits Wiki)

one more who was abused at Heartland Christian Academy (From Topix)

I'll tell you some of my expierence. I was sent there because i was about to out my mom the family when i arriveed i was told not to (jump out of the car) because there were men in the woods waiting. this was my second boarding school and i had been in juvi and in child servicesbefore, and jail after. Heartland was hell in 2 yrs i was able to go to the mall once which isnt the worse but i was abandoned by my parent so i had no income no way to get clothes and such however most of my supplies were takin care of by heartland of debowed from other guys sorry bros i just had some needslol. for all who dont know debowed would be stolen. i wasnt allowed to get a job untill i was "saved" which then came the fake it to make it. it was not hell every day but close. i did get my money when i left sorry some of yall didnt. I remember getting beat so bad i could sit, i remember when they went to handswats on top of ass beatings. I remember having to do hours of pt's after school for looking at chicks and failing tests because i didnt understand the work and then going back to the dorm to get swats.i did deserve some swats and maybe more but most of the time they were unjustified. I remember getting 10 swatson the arse than 10 on each hand. id seen a kid getting swatted so hard he went over a chair. the paddle used was 2 inches thick and about a foot long minus the handle i believe. i remember there being hours of quiet time many kids punished for nothing. the mental abuse was the worse. everything we did was wrong as an adult i know that swats arent abuse but the way they gave them in large numbers was i remember after school up to 25 boys in line for swats and this was every school day. getting swatted for false accusations and because a certain staff had it out for me. i rememer favortism was horrible there was a top click and they got pretty much whatever they wanted within the limits, we did go to the park everyonce in while but very few of us i remember swimming in the lake they had, there were great times, and i made some amazing friends that we stll talk this is a true testimony, there was good times, sometimes a fair and truly well hearted staff would get us out a day would usually go ...up early for at least 30 mins of pts then in for breakfast off to school then back to the dorm then quiet time then dinner then a couple of hours of "free time" to be in the halls then some sort of church then bed time swats were unjust they were not meant for correction grown men would put everything they had into the swing and one that i know of would get a running start and 1 would do a hop skip and a jump into the swing. one would toss the paddle into the air catch it to show his talent and then swat ya. the hand paddle was 6 inches long half inch thck rubber bout 2 inches wide and would be swung from the 12 oclock position to the 3oclock position coming from a man i rememeber leaving the office with welts on my purple palms i had my wisdom teeth pulled all 4 of them got back to the dorm and they wouldnt give me my pain medication cause it had codene in it the teachers have no degrees when i came they were not allowed to work us n the cow shit but i remember countless hours in the field blazing hot sun 12 hrs and only 1 small cup of water i saw one child got thrown into dirt and humiliated by the staff and had to finish 4 hours of labor covered in mud from head to toe we were pushed constantly to the point of tears than past that to degredation and then when we flipped out swated you could sneak notes to girls but very rarely and then they made it to where we only saw them at church ive seen many called out in the middle of the church and humiliated publically.i remember being told my mom ddnt love me which was true for me but for others was dead wrong. when i left i was told i would fail and be dead in 5 yrs its been 8 didnt happen and i am very succesful. I did get divorced I feel mostly due to Heartland cause it made me a control freak.