The Rougher Alternative Academy is making progress in character development. Our students face many challenges. To some degree they have been let down and overlooked by the adults in their lives. Many of them struggle with addiction in their families, homelessness, poverty, and a high mobility rate. As a result they come to us in survival mode, focused on their own needs. Our goal is to be a “soft place for them to fall” and to give them the emotional foundation necessary to look beyond themselves to the needs of others. We have chosen respect, responsibility, and compassion as our primary virtues because we know that if these virtues become embedded in their thinking a successful life is more likely. Books such as A Framework for Poverty by Dr. Ruby Payne and Bridges out of Poverty by Payne, DeVol, and Smith have helped us understand our students and develop strategies to help them live up to their potential. In an effort to promote the development of these virtues we have implemented a service learning program designed to teach our students that the world is large outside of self. This provides an opportunity for them to develop empathy and a moral responsibility to do their part in improving our world. We teach students that they are so much more capable than they ever thought they could be. These initiatives are designed to help students develop the character they need to be successful in their personal lives and to contribute to the development of a better community.

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