Although much was being done for the real delinquent, there were virtually no other placement options available to the thousands of parents anguishing over their underachieving teenagers who were unmotivated academically, making poor peer choices, and generally not fulfilling parental expectations. Our first school began by taking these high-potential students off to a mission field, away from negative influences, to do service projects for the poor. Intense academics augmented by counseling and group work usually results in the student having a new love for their families and a positive determination to have God's will for their life. A campus of twenty-five acres is situated in the mountains near Jarabacoa in the Dominican Republic, West Indies. Here at our 300 acres on huge Dog Lake, we have developed a substantial campus for this multi-faceted summer school, which accommodates approximately 45 teenagers and 35 staff members.
Most students attend one summer.
The facility was understandably named New Horizons Academy. Amid much debris and confusion, school started here in the fall of 1983. Since then several beautiful residence homes have been added on the campus that now comprises eight buildings on 120 acres. Normally students go back into society or home from the Marion Campus. A number of students go on to experience either Indiana Wesleyan University or Taylor University in their transition from New Horizons Academy.