Presidential Classroom Gives Copper Canyon Students Behind-the-Scenes Look at Federal Government

Not all high school students get the opportunity to take a tour of the Pentagon, visit the World Bank, attend a briefing at the U.S. State Department and sit on the floor of Congress.

But twice a year - most recently in July - a handful of girls from Copper Canyon Academy travel to Washington, D.C., and get the chance to do just that.

Through the Presidential Classroom program, the girls spend one week learning leadership skills, meeting students from other countries and getting a behind-the-scenes look at how the federal government works. They also participate in role-playing exercises (sometimes acting as ambassadors of other countries) and write proposals that are presented at simulated world summit meetings.

Academic and Therapeutic Benefits

The Presidential Classroom program is offered to high schools throughout the world and has been around for about 40 years, but Copper Canyon is one of the few therapeutic schools that participates in the program.

"It crosses boundaries between the clinical and the academic elements of our school," said Academic Director Ken Buxton, who organizes Copper Canyon's Presidential Classroom trips. "It really educates the entire student because the trip provides a unique combination of academics and self-awareness."

The academic element of the program has Presidential Classroom participants attending classes and sessions until 10 p.m. The therapeutic element has the girls from Copper Canyon attending a one-hour group therapy session with Buxton and a staff therapist at the end of the day so that they can process everything they have experienced.

"It's an intense week. They are stimulated from the very first day," Buxton said. "At Copper Canyon, the girls are secure and protected, and have few distractions. On the D.C. trip, they are out in the real world with 300 to 400 other teens."

Buxton and a therapist from the school accompany the girls on the trip so they can both provide guidance to the girls and observe their behaviors to assess where they are in their treatment program.

"We stress balance and moderation on this trip," Buxton said. "Many of our girls show a lot of leadership, and for all our students it is an opportunity to observe how they handle their triggers and other challenges, so we can see what they still need to work on."

An Honor and a Challenge

Copper Canyon has offered the Presidential Classroom program to students for the past four years. The trips are offered during the spring semester and summer, and up to 11 girls are selected to attend.

To be eligible for the trip, girls must maintain a consistently positive pattern of behavior and growth. Girls are selected to participate based on such criteria as age, parent permission, genuine interest in the program, the approval of their therapist and treatment team, academic performance and how long they've been at Copper Canyon.

Students who are interested in the program are required to submit for approval a detailed written proposal for the trip. The proposal addresses such issues as their motivation for wanting to attend, what they can contribute to the trip and they specific tools they have learned that will help them handle the challenges they may experience in D.C.

Once a girl's proposal has been accepted, she is scheduled into an Honors Government seminar taught by Buxton. The class meets in the weeks leading up to the trip to prepare students for the Presidential Classroom. Each girl must successfully complete the course, as well as maintain her academic standing in all other courses, to go on the trip.

Transforming Lives

During their time in D.C., the girls stay at Georgetown University, where they share rooms with students from other schools. While they are kept busy with classes and sessions, the students are provided time to sightsee in the nation's capitol.

At the end of the week-long program, the girls are presented with diplomas and become Presidential Classroom scholars. They also get partial school credit for the U.S. government class at Copper Canyon, as well as something impressive to put on their college applications.

"Many kids have said this was the biggest week of their lives because they have a feeling of a job well done, they did something they didn't feel they were capable of doing and they were taken seriously, maybe for the first time ever," Buxton said. "It can really turn their life around."