A refined Leelanau School is Ripe in the Land of the Sleeping Bear

By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor
Is your school overcrowded and boring? Are the classes dull and generic? Is everybody separated into isolated cliques, and none of them feel comfortable to you? Are you learning little more than how to hide and slide between the cracks because they want you to be a square peg in a round hole?
Dude, there are so many more ways to learn!
Are the teachers too busy to give you all the help you need? Do you know you could achieve a lot more if there was just some structure and stimulation? Do you have a different way of learning that’s better with more hands-on activities and individual attention? Would school be cool if you could play around the dunes, in the Crystal River, and along the Lake Michigan shoreline every day? Check out the Leelanau School right here in Glen Arbor.

The small, college prep boarding school with the pristine campus just northeast of Glen Arbor on Sleeping Bear Bay is focusing on students who learn differently. The high school already has a 76-year history of helping young people of all abilities who needed a fresh start, a structured setting, small classes, and more intimate and individualized instruction in order to be ready for college. But the vicissitudes of the world and the marketplace require some refinements. Leelanau School president Richard Odell remarks, “The number of high school age students considering boarding schools is decreasing, so the competition for students without social or emotional issues intensifying. The number of private day and charter school options across the country has almost doubled in the past 15 years.” Parents in the post 9/11 world seem to want to keep their children closer to home, even if they’re struggling in school. So what does Leelanau School, located in a gorgeous outdoor educational laboratory that is remote from the big metropolitan areas, do?
The school’s board of trustees hired a nationally-known admissions consultant last fall. After discussions with students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni, trustees and other independent school placement consultants, it was clear that the Leelanau School should refine and emphasize its focus on students who “learn differently.” Odell says, “Twenty-five years ago this type of child would be described as someone who either could not retain what he or she read, or who mixed up words, or who could not remember the process for solving math problems, or whose mind wandered while reading, or who could not sit still for very long, or who needed lots of attention. There are many more descriptors,” he adds, “but today these same students are diagnosed as having language-based learning differences such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia. Many also exhibit attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD).”
So the school year that just ended has been full of new initiatives and training. A marketing plan is hatching with the help of Crane Metamarketing, Ltd. of Atlanta, GA. Odell continues, “When we open this fall, all faculty will have been trained to use University of Kansas research-based and tested strategies to guide the child who learns differently. Some faculty will also have been trained to use Mel Levine’s All Kinds of Minds materials. We will also be adding four teaching specialists to support the academic growth of each student individually and in small groups every day.”
The college preparatory academic offerings will remain the same, but the curriculum is being made more integrated and experiential. “We expect to continue placing all graduates in college,” Odell assures. “Today there are over 250 colleges that have programs specifically designed for students who are non-traditional learners.”
Some of the Leelanau School’s proven ways of accommodating different learning needs will continue. Several students are part of Up North Show Jumpers and train with Melissa Hirt at Northern Pines Farm near Maple City. They travel to frequent horse shows all over the country, but they take their homework with them and stay in close touch with their teachers via email, fax, and phone calls. Jessie Miltz of Glen Arbor is one of those star show jumpers. She spent several weeks in Florida this winter training and competing, and Jessie just gave a graduation speech for the class of 2005. Her father, Bill Miltz, is chairman of the school’s board of trustees. “Our best chance of success is to serve families who have kids who learn differently,” Mr. Miltz explains. “They need non-traditional approaches and an environment and staff trained to understand how to help them be successful. That’s what the Leelanau School provides.”
The students, faculty and staff at the Leelanau School are like a tight-knit family. Everyone’s special talent is celebrated, and everyone’s special learning style is recognized, accepted and made into an asset. So if you’re not looking forward to dealing with your old school in the fall, don’t despair. Visit the Leelanau School while you’re here. You’ll find out: there are so many more ways to learn. (Call 334-5800 or check out www.leelanau.org).
Norm Wheeler is in his third decade teaching English and astronomy at the Leelanau School. He also runs the school’s Lanphier Observatory on the beach of Sleeping Bear Bay, which is open to the public during the summer.