STUDENT PROFILE

Admissions > Student Profile

A school as unique as its students.

What Oliverians have in common is their uncommonness.  We’re smart, sensitive, and sometimes quirky!  We see the world a little differently.  If that sounds like you, you might be one of us!

WHO THEY ARE

Our students are bright, college-capable adolescents who have struggled to find their place in more traditional settings. These are the “in-between” students who need more support than a traditional school provides but who are not looking for treatment.

They are often:

    • Quirky / out-of-the-box thinkers / outliers
    • Sensitive
    • Bright
    • Creative
    • In search of a more confident, authentic sense of self (identity)
    • Relationally motivated and willing to accept adult guidance and support
    • Tired of struggling and ready to change, grow, take responsibility, and find their place
    • Ready for the next step following a successful treatment experience
    • Ready for more support after having struggled in a traditional setting

 

They are often struggling with:

    • Anxiety
    • ADD/ADHD
    • Learning Differences
    • Executive Functioning Deficits
    • Depression
    • Self-Isolation
    • Tech Addiction
    • School Avoidance
    • Low Motivation
    • Low Self-esteem

WHEN THEY’RE READY

To succeed at Oliverian, a student must be at a point in their journey where they are ready to take on more freedom, personal choice, and autonomy.  Because we serve “in-between” students, our school has elements of a traditional high school and a therapeutic program but is an alternative to both.  As such, we favor support over structure and influence over control; we provide room for students to make good choices and mistakes, and we provide the guidance necessary to learn from both.  This highly experiential “step-up” approach requires that students are at a place in their journey where, with our support, mistakes are more likely to lead to growth than a serious setback.

WHEN THEY'RE NOT READY

Oliverian is not the best place for students who are currently…

  • Not capable, even with support, of doing college-preparatory academic work
  • Highly manipulative
  • Highly oppositional
  • Addicts not deeply engaged in their own recovery process
  • Suicidal *
  • Not relationally motivated and/or disinterested in relationships with adults
  • Predatory or violent
  • In need of a primary therapeutic intervention
  • Struggling with psychosis, strong features of a personality disorder, or a life-threatening disorder such as untreated anorexia

“*Including hospitalizations for suicidality in the last three months or attempts Suicidal in the last six months, unless followed by a successful treatment experience and cleared by professional caregivers for a less structured setting.”