Monthly Archives: July 2016

Yellowstone Academy Summer Program Adds Guest Science Lessons

Summer school may not be appealing to the average student, but it gets cooler with ExxonMobil’s weekly summer science lessons at Yellowstone Academy.

exxonmobil-1
ExxonMobil Public Affairs Specialist Dan Carter shows a YA student a fossil during a science lesson.

“It’s a great way to help students see how science impacts everything we do each day,” said ExxonMobil’s Dan Carter, who leads interactive lessons about everything from rocks, minerals, and geology to chemistry and engineering.

About 40 students in kindergarten through 12th grades are enrolled in YA’s summer school program, which is part of a trimester school year. In addition to Carter’s lessons, YA offers vocational programming, art and music classes, and a full range of academic services to assist special education students.

“We’re trying to help these kids with mental health so we can send them back to their districts and they can be successful academically,” said YA superintendent Mike Sullivan.

Students’ home school districts place them at YA through an Individual Education Plan process. The home districts, which are located within an hour’s distance from YA, pay for the placement of their students at the Academy.

“These kids can be successful, but they just need the right setting,” Sullivan said. “We’re the right setting for them.”

The YA day treatment educational model involves collaboration among educators, therapists, and behavioral specialists to help kids work on social and emotional deficiencies. Classrooms have four adults and eight to 10 students. Teachers fill students’ days with group projects and interactive activities, like Carter’s science lessons.

“Every kid I’ve ever met is curious about the world around them,” Carter said. “I just try to show them a new way of looking at it.”

YA is a fully accredited K-12 program through AdvancED Accreditation and an accredited K-8 elementary district through Montana’s Office of Public Instruction. It is located at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, a nonprofit organization that is trusted locally and nationally as a leader in the field of mental health care for children and their families. YBGR has impacted more than 10,000 youth and their families since 1957 through Residential Services in Billings, Community Based Services throughout Montana, and the Yellowstone Academy in Billings.

Billings Hit Band Plays for YBGR in Summer Concert

Repeat Offenders Members (L-R): Patrick Michaelis, Thomas Burke, Steve Shelton, Dusty Young, and John Verbeck
Repeat Offenders Members (L-R): Patrick Michaelis, Thomas Burke, Steve Shelton, Dusty Young,
and John Verbeck

The Montana native, hit band, Repeat Offenders, will play at the Josephine Crossing Summer Concert on Tuesday, July 12 from 5 to 8:30 p.m. The event supports Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch.

The band’s bass player, Steve Shelton, was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and struggled with social and behavioral obstacles. He said he feels this event is a fitting way to support kids with similar challenges.

“Anything anybody can do to help kids out, I think, is very, very cool,” Shelton said.

The Josephine Crossing subdivision, developed by McCall Homes, is hosting the concert series for the seventh year. McCall Homes Marketing Director Kelly Smith works and lives in the community.

“I’m a neighbor myself,” Smith said. “I can pack up my red wagon with camp chairs and a picnic blanket, and we can go and have great entertainment, really, in our backyard.”

The concert will raise cash and check donations, which will support YBGR’s treatment programs. YBGR also accepts donations at www.ybgr.org/donate/.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Billings community and the Repeat Offenders to support our kids,” said Morgan Tuss, the public relations intern at YBGR.

Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, a nonprofit organization, is trusted locally and nationally as a leader in the field of mental health care for children and their families. YBGR has impacted more than 10,000 youth and their families since 1957 through Residential Services in Billings, Community Based Services throughout Montana, and the Yellowstone Academy in Billings.

 

Listen to YBGR Public Relations Intern Morgan Tuss and Kelly Smith with McCall Homes speak with the Breakfast Flakes about the event!

Listen to YBGR Director of Public Relations Gillette Vaira interview with Livin’ Large Larry about the event!

Voices of Yellowstone

Lisa Frazier, Therapeutic Recreation Supervisor
Lisa Frazier, Therapeutic Recreation Supervisor

As told by Lisa Frazier, Therapeutic Recreation Supervisor

In 1982, fresh out of college, I began working at Yellowstone. I spent the majority of my time with kids in the Uihlein Recreation Center, taking them on biking, camping, and sledding adventures. My mentor, Bob McFarlane, one of the three founders of Yellowstone, taught me how to establish relationships through hard work and play. Of course, we never know how our actions and words will impact young people. But we hope that our advice will stay with them throughout life. That’s what happened with Adam Garrigues.

I met Adam in 1983 when he arrived at Yellowstone at 15 years old. By that time, he had plenty of run-ins with the law. He ran away from home, skipped school, smoked, drank, and did drugs. He also ran away from the Casper Children’s Home at age 13. Later, he stole a car and robbed houses, landing him in the Wyoming Mental Hospital and the Wyoming Industrial Institute for Boys.

When he came upon his fourth felony in three years, he knew his next stop was Yellowstone… or prison.

“The judge told me flat out, ‘This is your last chance,’” Adam said.

Adam lived at the Ranch for more than three years, and he was actively involved. He played on the Mustangs basketball team and won Defensive Player of the Year. Later, Adam told me he behaved well so he could participate in recreational programming.

Adam Garrigues, Volunteer and Former Youth
Adam Garrigues, Volunteer and Former Youth

“It kept me focused to do what was being asked of me or I might miss the big game that night,” he said.

Adam was eager to assist staff, as well. I remember when he helped me take a group of young kids on a camping trip.

“I was the pack mule,” Adam said. “After day four, my legs went numb, but I kept going. Now that builds character.”

Other aspects of his Ranch experience were impactful, as well. Adam remembers a staff mentor, Jerry, asking him to look up the word, “empathy”, and use it in a sentence. That assignment stayed with him.

“Later in life, it was just that little voice in the back of my head: ‘Be nice to people. You don’t know where they came from and they don’t know where you came from.’ When I would do something I knew I shouldn’t be doing, I heard a staff member or counselor saying, ‘You might not want to make this choice.’”

Adam wanted to have a chance to be one of those voices for kids currently in treatment at Yellowstone.

In 2015, he began coaching our youth in bowling. He teaches bowling basics, etiquette, and respect for equipment. But he gives advice about more than just bowling.

Adam Garrigues, Volunteer and Former Youth
Adam Garrigues, Volunteer and Former Youth

“This is not a game,” he has told them. “You have to make good decisions.”

The conversations they have about the future bring him back to his past.

“You can talk to them and you see yourself back in those days. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster since I’ve been coming back here, to be honest,” he said.

Now 48, Adam works as a welder for WBI Energy. He and his wife also started a food truck and catering business. He runs a youth bowling league in Billings and enjoys spending time with his wife, three children, and six grandchildren. But even as he enjoys his successful adult life, the Ranch continues to be a part of him.

“The voices of YBGR are still with you,” he said.

And now, his voice is with the kids of Yellowstone.