Hitting Rock Bottom: New Beginnings for At-risk Youth. This item is unavailable.Hitting Rock Bottom: New Beginnings for At-risk Youth

They came from many of the high schools, middle schools, and continuation schools of Placer County due to truancy, multiple suspension, expulsion, probation referrals, or court order. Most hated school and school authority. Several had lengthy criminal histories already and some were from rival gangs. Forty-two males and females would start wearing Army camouflage versus street clothes. They would undergo the hardest academic and physical rigor of their lives. Most met the challenge - some did not.This was their last chance of avoiding dropping out of school, living a life of crime, incarceration or death. There they would run into a retired police sergeant who would be their teacher. He prided himself on being "old school" and with the help of the U.S. Army, they together, help transform these youth into high school graduates and productive adults.They were inspired by books/films such as Freedom Writers, Stand and Deliver, To Sir With Love, Gridiron Gang and Dangerous Minds to the point of wanting to share their stories with others. For most "cadets" the academy became their family. Through their writings, the reader will enter the lives they had been living before attending the academy. They explain how they began noticing changes in both their attitude, physical fitness, and family life. It was their dream that at least one at-risk student would become inspired by their book and decide, after Hitting Rock Bottom, to turn their lives around like they did.

About the Author Dr. Gary Rose was a police sergeant with the Milpitas Police Department in California from 1973 to 1987. After retiring from an injury, and inspired by Jaime Escalante, Principal Joe Clark, Lou Anne Johnson and Erin Gruwell, he decided to explore a new career as a teacher; something he experienced as part of his duties while assigned to the Community Relations Division of the police department. After an interview with Joan Berry, Director of Alternative Education for the Placer County Office of Education, he was assigned to the Placer County Juvenile Detention Facility in Auburn, California. There he served as teacher in the A-Unit (toughest male offenders) for seven years. He called them “his A-Unit Animals” and had them adopt his classroom mantra of “stay focused, remain curious, truth and honor and whatever it takes.” In 2007, he was given an assignment to create a military style boot-camp school. His students would be those expelled from their traditional schools, alternative court and community schools, as well as a last chance for juvenile probation students. In partnership with the United States Army, he established Placer County’s first academy, the Alder Grove Academy – Home of the Spartans. Upon the closing of the academy, he taught at-risk students in one of the county’s court and community schools until retirement. After completing his doctorate in Social Psychology, he taught several years at the college/university level before returning to at-risk youth. He currently teaches GED preparation courses to incarcerated adults in Placer County.