I was a Cedu student for almost exactly 1 year, when the 'core' staff decided to go off and start the Cascade School. I was on my 'OutwardBound' (The first one that Dennis Crowell ran without Craig Cass along, in Mineral King)when most of the students were told of the move, and was greeted with the news of the Cascade move before we could even shower or eat, upon our return from OB... I made the decision to leave CEDU and join the other staff and students leaving for the 'new school', on my birthday (which coincidently was the official day that marked the beggining of Cascade School and was celebrated as founders day from then on). There was the typical birthday thing with a house around the pit, at lunch time, and I was told directly after that, that I needed to go pack my belongings and be off the property by 2:30pm.
We were not privy to much of the decision making processes that went into the move, so I really don't know what the motivation was for most of the staff. Much of what I've been reading here about sexual abuse is news to me, but not really surprising. I do remember one staff being asked to resign after he was caught with his hand in a female students cookie jar...The verbal and mental abuse seemed to be the most common (that I know of)
I too have been in raps/propheets, where the pressure to 'cop out' to 'dirt' was so immense, that I had to make up some devious deeds to cop out to. On one occasion, in my 'I want to Live' propheet, the pressure to cop out was so bad, that I made up a lie about trying to poison my mother. I was then made to TELL my mother this, which understanably strained our relationship for quite awhile. Between 'Power Tripping Interns' and undertrained and sometimes dysfunctional staff, I did witness mental abuse in many forms while I was there.
There are still things I look back on fondly. Mostly relationships, and the bonds that are built between peers under durress. Outward Bound was amazing, but the first one was ruined with the news of the staff leaving, so I did a second one at Cascade. Also did a 28 day trip along the John Muir Trail, from Yosemite to Mt Whitney. I was scheduled to go on the '86 Italy trip, but it was cancelled after the US airstrikes on Libya... It wasn't until shortly after I left that I realized that I was merely a dollar sign to many at of the staff at Cascade. The whole line about 'this will always be your home' quickly changed to 'We heard that you are not doing very well on your own, so we don't want you to come visit and poison our environment'.
I had no idea about the Cascade School closing until a couple days ago, and I am still somewhat shocked over it. I have lost touch with almost all of the people I once knew from Cedu/Cascade. I miss them all, and hope that everyone is doing well...
