Endangered poison-arrow frogs pose on miniature logs, their neon blue, black-striped bodies trumpeting their presence.
Nearby, chameleons creep up trees while snakes and a tarantula shed their skin.Welcome to the aquarium zoo at Oakley School, Utah's $3,860-per-month private boarding school. The 20-acre facility, nestled amid autumn leaves of the Uintas, has it all: a lodge-style school, spacious dormitories, nearby skiing, backpacking and camping - even a chocolate Labrador retriever, licking the hands of guests.
All that's missing is a full student body.
And school officials aren't too worried about that fact. Hoping to start with 10 students, they opened in September with 22, and four more students came on board by October. The school, which will hold about 100 ninth- through 12th-graders, receives about a dozen inquiries a week, said admissions director Dan Kemp.
The school's ribbon-cutting ceremony is Oct. 20.
"We get some criticism that this is an expensive program. It is at $125 a day. But it's much more comprehensive than other programs are. . . . We don't excuse ourselves for that," said operating manager Lorin Broadbent, a former teacher and counselor at the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, a boarding school whose 2,300-student population was among the world's largest in the late 1960s.
Three students have scholarships. The Livingood Foundation for Development and Education of Youth is taking donations to help create more scholarships. Jack Livingood, president of Big D Construction, had a hand in building Oakley School.
The school population is unique. Students are high achievers who at some point lost their way, whether due to a personal issue or parental divorce, have undergone therapy or counseling and now want to prepare for college. The school provides ample counseling and peer support opportunities needed to shepherd the teens through their high school years.
"We are continually communicating with each other on a daily basis so no kid is falling through the cracks," said Jared Balmer, school executive director. "Nothing can happen in a vacuum. Everyone knows everything about a student and can get him the support he needs academically or personally."
The students hail from throughout the United States and British Columbia and are highly motivated, said James Meyer, dean of academics. "We take kids who may have struggled in the past, not who are currently struggling."
To obtain a conditional-use permit, the school had to convince city leaders of that fact. Some community members had feared the school would be for troubled teens or felons. Broadbent and Balmer helped run Island View, a treatment center in Syracuse, Davis County, but that is not connected to Oakley School.
As part of a conditional-use permit, the school agreed with the 1,000-population Oakley city that as much as 10 percent of the school's population could consist of local daytime students. That program begins next year.
"We chose Oakley because it's close to a major metropolitan center but also close to a tremendous number of outdoor opportunities . . . and it's beautiful here," Meyer said. "The town has been very generous and welcoming to us."
The academic program includes the basics and ample hands-on opportunities. Science students build tropical environs for endangered poison-arrow frogs, some with threatened plant species and coconut-shell "huts" for egg-laying frogs.
"It becomes theirs," said science teacher Alex Datchuk, who researches the frogs. "The kids get really excited about this. Hopefully, enough of that motivation will carry over into the written stuff."
Following the four-day academic week, students participate in activities, dubbed modules, ranging from community service to recreation and sports to arts.
"Academically, it pushes you to work," said Sara Webb, a senior whose family lives in Hawaii. "There's plenty of support here if you need it and are willing to ask for it. . . . There's more to it than just being a school."