Here is a local news puff piece from this past summer:
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TheSpectrum.comLearning about lifeRed Rock Canyon School's program helps students gain perspectiveBY LISA LARSON •
[email protected] • June 8, 2009
Sometimes it takes learning about death to gain a greater appreciation for life.
At Metcalf Mortuary in St. George, four students from Red Rock Canyon School gathered in a room to view various headstones and vaults as part of an overall facility tour. After a word of warning, the tour guide opens a door to reveal several infant-size caskets, something Jordan Delgado, 17, did not enjoy seeing.
"It didn't make me very happy," she said after leaving the room. "It reminds you of a lot of things you've experienced throughout your life and what could happen."
These types of thoughtful reactions are just what Barry Moore, transitional director at Red Rock Canyon School, has come to expect from the program he's dubbed "Tour de Life" - a tour that stops at locations ranging from the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Dixie Regional Medical Center to the area's pioneer historical sites and Purgatory Correctional Facility as well as Metcalf Mortuary - with the goal of giving the students a better perspective on where they've come from and where they're going.
It's all part of the curriculum for the transitional program, Moore said, adding that the "key points" on the tour signify stops on the journey of life, though not all of the stops have to be part of their personal journey; it all depends on their choices.
For example, visiting Purgatory is a way of showing these students where their life could go if they let their guard down once they go home from Red Rock's program.
"It only takes a nanosecond to misstep and that misstep could cost them years behind bars," Moore said of the students who are "already at risk" because of prior issues.
"These children that come through here (Red Rock) are damaged. Some of them are in a world of hurt," Moore said.
Through the transitional program and other elements offered at Red Rock the goal is to help the students move beyond that.
While visiting Purgatory some of the inmates shared their stories with the students to help them see the error in their ways.
"You have to be there to feel ... the power in their words and the emotions they're expressing to our students. It brings almost everyone to tears," Moore said. "It does make a big impact on our kids."
Luke Shoop, 17, said the time at Purgatory made him think about "all the stupid stuff we used to do. If we would have gotten caught, we would have been in big trouble."
That stop on the tour also made him think about his future.
"It's made me think about the choices I'm making at Red Rock at least," he said.
During the visit to Metcalf Mortuary, some of the students commented on the fact that death can happen to anyone and no one really knows when their time will come to a close.
"I don't see myself with much of a future so it's like, when is this going to happen to me," Delgado said.
"Death could happen at any time and when it does, it'll be crazy," Shoop said. "It just makes me think how precious life is."
The latter is a message Red Rock is trying to instill in the youth.
"Life can be fragile and you want to live each day to the max," Moore said.
The Tour de Life stop at area pioneer sites is an opportunity for Red Rock staff to emphasize that these students can be pioneers themselves, blazing a trail away from the path they've been on.
"They're beginning to see that they are in charge, they are the captains of their souls," Moore said. "They are free to choose what they want to do and what they want to be. We want them to see that."
Tour de Life also takes students on a visit to the cemetery, but this is not the final stop as some people might expect. The last leg of the journey is a family history lesson where students can attempt to track down some of their ancestors and see how close that connection can be.
These kinds of experiences and others have given Delgado a new perspective on what she can accomplish when she is finished with her time at the school.
"Red Rock has done wonders for me. I've never been this happy," she said, adding that she plans to stay with Red Rock until she's completed her high school diploma.
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