Let me "attempt" to clarify the campus situation in Northern Idaho.
Rocky Mountain Academy consisted of the entire property on Cow Creek road in the 80 and early 90. It grew over time, from just the main house and dorm rooms, to include the large "education/administration" building on the low side of the road and the farm which was just inside the property line on the west side of the campus. In 1993 or 1994, CEDU decided it needed a place to send kids who would not follow the rules and couldn't be broken by the typical indoctrination. They developed a 6 week program called "Ascent".
Ascent was a pathetically small campus built in a matter of a month or two on the Ruby Ridge (yep, that one) mountainside down the interstate at Naples. The place consisted of a couple of office buildings and a few large teepees, from which they contrived the "Native American' theme of the joint. Kids would go to the Naples "Base Camp" for a couple weeks, then head out on a 2 week "Expedition" (normally in Montana) and then back to base camp for a couple more weeks before being returned to the CEDU program they came from (RMA, CEDU, what have you). Ascent was rough. You were outside basically 24/7, the only respite being sleeping on the ground inside the teepees at night. Unlike the other CEDU campuses, physical restraint was an acceptable practice by the counselors. As you can imagine, it was used frequently though never to an insane degree.
After Ascent had been around for a year or so, Mel decided it would be a good idea to start a full term boarding school there. He built a dorm and few more buildings and called it Northwest Academy. The Ascent and Northwest Acedemy "programs" co-existed on the same turf for years. Note: Northwest Academy was known to being VERY rough. It was basically all the kids who wouldn't put up with the CEDU bs and were inclined to do something about it. Other kids were just there by bad luck or whatever. The thing that Mel didn't factor was that the program's intensity might have been OK for 6 weeks, but tell a kid they have to put up with that for 2 years + and you have a problem. They tried to soften the place up for the Northwest Academy students, but it was basically long term Ascent and was intolerable. It was this factor that led to the infamous NWA riot in 01 or 02 (I am not sure on the exact date).
Back to the main point - the campuses. At the same time Ascent and NWA were being started, Mel decided (or whoever the fuck was telling the fat pig what to do) that they needed a campus for "younger" kids or those with socialization issues. He decided that the farm at RMA was big enough, with modifications to house another program. So in 94 he built Boulder Creek Academy, which moved into the buildings that used to make up the farm (there was also 2 major buildings built there that summer). Of course, they "seeded" (no pun intended) BCA with kids and staff from RMA.
After I graduated in the mid-nineties (I avoid specifics b/c CEDU has been looking VERY hard for detractors recently) the multiple campuses in northern Idaho campus began to play musical chairs. Best I can tell, NWA swapped campuses with RMA, RMA swapped campuses with BCA (short move) and so on. I have no clue if Ascent still existed - I figure they are still at the Naples spot in some form or fashion.
I hope that kind of clears things up. I tend to go off topic, not because I am ADHD but because there is so much to tell about these places.
