Stories and Essays: Life at Weight Loss Boarding School

Wellspring Academy became the country’s first boarding school devoted to tackling the problem of childhood obesity when it opened in California in 2004. Wellspring Academy of the Carolinas, which opened in the fall of 2007 on the hilly, scenic grounds of an out-of-season summer camp in Brevard, is the school’s second location.

About 25 middle and high school students who are seriously overweight spend at least four months here learning how to eat right, exercise more and fight the genetics that have placed them among the millions of children who struggle with obesity.

“In a way, I’m not happy to be away from my parents and my family,” said Ryan Bittone, 13, an eighth-grader from Pennsylvania who has been at the school for four months. “But I’m happy I made the decision to come here. I’m going to be healthy and live a lot longer than before.”

The Wellspring boarding schools are aimed at teenagers like Bittone, who is among the one-third of American youth who are obese or at risk of becoming obese, a disease that experts are calling an epidemic.

Lauren Daley, 15, looks at her stomach while Meagan Beckham, 16, and Francesca Pittari, 15, hug each other for encouragement before another weekly weigh-in Monday morning. The weigh-ins can be a great source of either joy or sadness for the students depending on whether they lose or gain weight.
   
Students and staff at Wellsprings Academy gather around Santee Wells, 15, at the conclusion of a Compass Meeting after he moved up to the next level in the program. Wells lost 123 pounds in the program since starting last summer.
  
A small cluster of 'before' photos hang outside the main office at the Wellspring Academy shows students and teachers before they lost a considerable amount of weight.
     
  
Tracy Ostrofsky, 15, from Houston, TX, holds up a pair of jeans she eventually wants to fit into after her time at Wellsprings. Ostrofsky, who says she feels pressure at school and home to lose weight, just started the program in February. She wants to lose weight before going home for her birthday and hopefully, her school's prom dance.
   
Friends gather around to console a devastated Meaghan Beckham who found out she gained seven pounds during the weekly weigh-in. Beckham had been at home the previous weekend where she says she went off her Healthy Obsession diet. Though upset, Beckham resolved to work harder to lose the weight.
   
Ryan Bittone, 13, of Eagleville, PA, eats his breakfast before class.
     
  
Carol Oocuma, 14, rests her head on the back of her chair and listens to a classmate during her last all-school Compass meeting before leaving the Wellspring Academy. After losing over 80 pounds over the course of six months, Carol is ready to return home to Cherokee, NC.
  
Kristen Sjostrom, 14, of Malvern, PA, works late on lifting weights after dinner with physical specialist John Taylor. Sjostrom, who started at Wellsprings a month ago, lost 21 pounds.
   
Optional physical activities are available for students into the night-time.
     
  
Lauren Daley, 15, reads a letter after cleaning her room January 28, 2008. Daley, who has lost 98 pounds since she came to the school six months ago, says that though there have been bad times at the camp, "the good times overpower the bad." Many of the students, ages 13-17, get homesick during their stay at the weight loss boarding school.
   
Carol Oocumma, 14, laughs as she lies in the middle of a skateboarding ramp after sliding down the side while trying to retrieve a rugby ball during clubs time Monday at the Academy of the Sierras weight loss boarding school.
  
Sharene Salameh, 16, tries to keep the ball away from Adam Greenberg, 14, and Meagan Beckham, 16, during a large group activity before a trip to the movies. Activities are a large part of the curriculum at Wellsprings Academy and a student's participation factors into their access to higher levels in the program.
     
  
Empty packets of Splenda line the breakfast plate of many students at the Wellsprings Academy who use the sweetener in almost everything- from yogurt to juice to applesauce.
  
Francesca Pittari, 15, of Auburn, AL whispers with a friend at dinnertime.
   
A student writes down his goals during an all-school Compass meeting at Wellspring Academy.
     
  
Ryan Bittone, 13, of Eagleville, PA, works on a drawing of a cell for science class Monday afternoon at the Academy of the Sierras. Bittone has been at the weight loss school since September. He recently had surgery on his knee.
   
A teacher makes a low-calorie pizza lunch for students during a field trip to the Nature Center in Asheville, NC.
  
Meaghan Beckham gets a hug from Francesca Pittman after Beckham found out she lost seven pounds during the weekly weigh-in. This was a sweet victory for Beckham who had gained weight the previous week.
     
  
Adam Greenberg, 14, crashes through a 'Moving on Up' banner during a school wide Compass meeting where Greenberg moved up to the next program level in the Wellspring program. This gives him extra responsibilities and priviliges.