It doesn’t take a genius to see that America’s kids have inherited a highly stressed over competitive society.
The crippling effect of this stress and alienation has produced 142 school shootings since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut in 2012. That’s about one per week.
Nearly everyone one of my teenage patients complains of loneliness, anxiety, stress and alienation.
The acute social crisis that kids must endure stems from many things.
The economic condition of most families is such that both parents must work.
This leaves kids alone and largely unsupervised.
Nowadays the electronic media serves as a parental substitute but has proven to be wholly inadequate.
When they go to school they are typically in class rooms with 30 to 40 students so the chance to be truly heard or comforted or guided is nearly non-existent.
In addition many of the most gifted kids on Long Island are now so specialized and professionalized that they are in desperate need of flexible school schedules.
Some of these families resort to home schooling to accommodate their travel schedules which leaves the kids very isolated socially.
Therefore it is no surprise that a private school would emerge that addresses the individual and unique needs of special kids.
Welcome to the Fusion Academy.
This sixth-through-12th grade private school was founded by Michelle Rose Gilman, an innovative teacher from Southern California who saw that the social and emotional needs of students were being largely ignored.
She was a tutor and first developed workshops to build self-esteem and social skills.
The demand for her services was so great that she opened a school based upon one on one classroom experiences and now has 40 such schools across America.
I met Allyson Taylor Schwartz who is director of admissions and she gave me a tour of the Fusion Academy located in Woodbury.
Allyson is a warm, friendly and well informed representative of the school and was originally from Los Angeles with a parent in the film business.
She introduced me to the Tiffany Belferder who is the head of school.
Tiffany had the look of a ballerina and she told me she has a strong background in dance and art therapy. So right away I could see that the school made serious effort to fuse the arts with academics.
Allyson told me that Fusion was all about offering one-to-one learning experiences and was designed to meet the social, emotional and academic needs of each student.
The population consisted of elite athletes, young professional artists, those with chronic illnesses, highly advanced students or those with emotional or social needs.
The school provides personalized teaching for each student’s strengths, interests, travel schedules and learning style.
As I reviewed the course catalog I noticed a vast array of unique courses that go far beyond the standard science, math, social studies and English offerings.
As an example their language department offers Japanese, Italian, Hebrew and American Sign Language.
They offer business math, engineering and a host of honors classes in leadership.
And on Fridays they regularly go on field trips to exotic destinations.
Allyson told me they emphasize flexibility since so many of their students have a variety of needs related to either their professions or medical issues.
As I toured the school the architecture revealed the essence of the place.
Rather than classrooms each teacher had a specially designed room which consisted of a desk, two chairs, a black board and bookcases.
Every class was a tutorial. The rooms had soft lighting and a cozy feel.
In addition there were yoga rooms, music, art, fitness and science studios as well as two large seating areas call Homework Cafes which were designed to allow for social interaction but also for studying.
I thought of the school of the future that Herman Hesse described in his classic novel “Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game” where each student had one to ones with gifted teachers and each class attempted to fuse together the arts, music, meditation and academics.
Fusion Academy also brought back to me my work while in graduate school.
I was lucky enough to work for one of America’s great teachers, Clint Marantz who had just established the Performing Arts Foundation under the support of Harry Chapin.
My job was to write, receive and evaluate grants which brought artists into all the high schools of Suffolk County.
It is clear to me that Fusion Academy is filling a tremendous need on Long Island and throughout the nation.
Large numbers of teens feel lost, neglected, ostracize, misunderstood, voiceless and alienated.
This is the first school I have ever been in that gives me hope for our future.
If you know a kid who seems different, unable to fit in and who has gifts that are not being met in traditional school settings remember the name Fusion Academy.
This is a school that saves young lives, gives them a voice and helps them to find their passion and their destiny.
Some of their graduates are now professional athletes, go to Ivy League schools or have become successful entrepreneurs.
This is a school whose time has come, a safe place that nourishes talent, self-direction and self-respect.
