Department of Juvenile Services – Frederick Co. Office

ThorpeWood’s “gender responsive program” Seasons of Growth, is designed for adjudicated or otherwise referred teenage girls in Frederick County. This program was created because girls learn differently than boys and respond successfully to relationship-oriented interventions.

This fall, our girls had a wonderful session focusing on the twelve-step principles of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon. The girls learned how those principles of recovery and sane living apply to their lives – both to their own compulsive behaviors and substance abuse issues and to the ways they are affected by those behaviors in others. We are especially pleased that our customized curriculum for this program is now accepted by Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services and will be distributed to DJS offices throughout the state.

We are particularly grateful to Megan Swindro, the DJS Family Intervention Therapist who helped us launch this partnership, co-authored the curriculum, and enrolled and supervised the girls for each session. She is moving on from DJS and will be much missed by ThorpeWood’s staff and the girls we serve. Megan’s personal commitment, professionalism, and consistent focus on what is possible, allow the girls and this program to succeed. We thank her for her vision and courage in working with us to establish this groundbreaking effort. Her legacy will be the benefits to girls in years to come.

Our program’s success is also made possible in part by generous support in 2007 and 2008 from the Ausherman Family Foundation. The Foundation’s major funding has supported the successful participation of more than eighty Frederick County girls. These girls now have new skills with which to approach life’s challenges. We are extremely grateful to the Foundation for this support that changes girls’ lives for the better.

Southwest Baltimore Charter School

Our Boys Read! partnership with Southwest Baltimore Charter School (SBCS) began its second year this fall. The reading themes we explored with the third and fourth grade boys participating in the program were: spiders and butterflies, the relationship between art and language, and why we value and celebrate family and loved ones during the holidays.

The boys and their families enjoyed a spirited day at ThorpeWood’s Lodge for the semester’s culminating event, a turkey and catfish Thanksgiving feast on Saturday, November 22nd. This visit allowed the boys’ parents and caregivers to observe the excitement and interest their boys exhibit about their reading progress. Especially meaningful to us was that one of the boys brought with him his young Baltimore City neighbors so that they, too, could be introduced to the ThorpeWood learning experience he enjoys so much.

This spring, the boys will continue their adventures in reading by learning how text can help us identify our particular strengths and gifts; supply us with faith, courage, patience and perspective during the times we run short; and use reading and writing to measure how much we’ve grown and identify further growth opportunities.

ThorpeWood’s Boys’ Read! partnership with SBCS is supported in part by a generous grant from The Annie E. Casey Foundation in cooperation with Associated Black Charities of Baltimore and the Eddie and Sylvia Brown Family Foundation through the Baltimore Community Foundation.

Antietam Academy, Washington County

This fall ThorpeWood launched its first Washington County partnership, a program for the girls of Antietam Academy Middle School, a public alternative placement school. These girls attend Antietam Academy because they were removed from their regular middle schools for behavioral reasons. This program provides “gender responsive” therapy to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls every other Friday for two years. Our goal is to ensure that the girls return successfully to their home schools. As part of our agreement with the Washington County Board of Education, when the girls leave Antietam Academy and transition back to their home middle schools or begin high school, they will continue to attend our program and complete the two year curriculum.

While we look forward to developing our statistical data to define the growth these girls have shown this fall, we are pleased by early anecdotal evidence of positive changes in their perspective, problem solving skills, and attitudes. This evidence is forwarded to us by teachers, administrators, school counselors, and the girls themselves. Our Antietam Academy girls participate in ThorpeWood’s program on a voluntary basis, and we are gratified and humbled to see the courage and willingness with which they tackle their most difficult problems and issues.

Mary Roberts, the newest member of ThorpeWood’s staff and a licensed school counselor, is instrumental in the success of this new program. Most recently at Monocacy Middle School, Mary’s arrival at ThorpeWood fulfills her dream of working intensively and directly with students who need her help and support. We welcome Mary and the girls are reaping the benefits.

We are currently seeking funding support for this program.

Heather Ridge School

ThorpeWood launched this fall another new partnership with Frederick County’s public alternative school, Heather Ridge. In contrast to our work with Antietam Academy’s girls, our program for Heather Ridge focuses on their least successful and longest-tenured male students. One of the characteristics these boys share is limited experience working as part of a productive and successful team. Compounding that problem is their inability to identify which of their strengths or positive attributes to contribute to the team and when.

The boys visit ThorpeWood for large-scale teamwork projects such as building dry-stack stone walls, wood-working in the barn, and knife-making, an art that includes aspects of blacksmithing, woodworking and leatherwork. We’ve chosen these projects not so much for the boys to learn these primitive but essential trades, but so we can use these experiences as vehicles to help them learn more about themselves. By working on each project, the boys work as part of a successful team and gain confidence to access and apply their strengths instead of their weaknesses to challenging situations.

A. unique and powerful aspect of the program’s success is the direct participation of Heather Ridge’s two administrators, Principal Aaron Phillips and Assistant Principal Jason Lininger. Their participation helps both the boys and the administrators achieve a new perspective about each other and creates an opportunity to build and find success together.

Support for the building materials used in this program is provided by a grant from the Youth Field of Interest Fund of the Community Foundation of Frederick County.