School Transforms Teens' Lives, One Pound At A Time
The gravel road announces families' arrival at Wellspring before they actually get there. As cars begin to pull up the breathtakingly narrow, windy roads that lead to school, the thrumming of cicadas is temporarily eclipsed by the crunch of tires on gravel, then the slam of car doors.
Teens cross the green lawns, often with parents and siblings in tow, to check in on a rustic front porch of what looks like a big log cabin. There they receive a schedule and make their way to Tammy Olivier, Wellspring's office manager and HR director. As "Miss Tammy" — honorifics are standard here; everyone is addressed as Miss, Mr. or Coach — welcomes the students, she asks them to catalog all the things they normally can't live without.
"Just write down what you brought with you, like your laptop, your cellphone, camera, Kindle, stuff like that," Richards says, pointing to the clipboard where all the valuables will be listed. "We'll put them in here," she says as she points to small plastic bin with a snap-close lid, "and label them, and give everything back to you when you leave."
This scene — minus the electronics appropriation — is replayed during move-in day on hundreds of campuses across the United States at the beginning of the school year. But this isn't just any campus — this is Wellspring Academy of the Carolinas, a boarding school designed to help overweight and obese students lose weight while also teaching traditional academics. And these teens aren't just any teens; they are kids who are seriously overweight, sometimes so much so that their lives are endangered. Wellspring is the one place in the world that might be able to, finally, help them take — and keep — the weight off.
Don't Call It Fat Camp
Being here makes these kids special, but being overweight doesn't.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 30 percent of American teens are overweight, and it's pretty easy to guess why: too many sodas and high-calorie snacks; too much sitting before the computer and the TV; too many PE classes cut because of budget demands. The result: spiking numbers of teens with diabetes and increased risk of adult health problems like cardiovascular diseases, arthritis, cancer and stroke.
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Wellspring is nestled at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 20 minutes south of Ashville. It's in a part of the country that's known for its caloric cuisine, but don't look for any of that here. No buttered cornbread, no pork barbecue,
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