Riverside Preparatory Academy - Review #2

The ROTC program helped shape the framework of how Riverside operates, and as a "Military Academy" it of course had to have that component. This really helped with the direction the education took as well as the campus life. It provided a strong sense of camaraderie as well helping mature teenage boys into young men. The international aspect was also really cool, with kids from all over the world attending and thus living with, and playing sports with people from the other side of the globe.

Being accepted into college. I would not have ever attended a University if I had stayed the course I was on in public school.

It goes by very quickly, and every reason I didn't want to go turned into everything I was extremely grateful for having the opportunity to do later. I believe I would have, if I did it over again, taken advantage of the summer programs...which I didn't and I regret not doing so.

I liked most was the future it provided me. I do very well, support a stay-at-home wife who home schools our 2 children. I owe a lot of that to Riverside as it was the base for building what I have now.

Military School offers a ton of unique and precious opportunities that you may, but probably won't have access to in traditional schooling situations. Explore them all and take advantage or it because there's a lot of those specific opportunities that won't present themselves again in your adult life.

The academics at Riverside were very focused on the cadets. It was different then public school because the majority of the students wanted to succeed, thus the group as a whole succeeds. You were not just a number by any means...you were part of a class of young men that wanted to do better and everyone you engaged with wanted that same thing. The support structure was unlike anything I had seen before, where you had help available immediately, and if you didn't seek help, it knew where to find you.

I loved playing soccer with kids from all over the world...from Japan to Egypt, from Chili to Canada, all sorts of skills and fun times were had on the field. As soccer was an international sport, it really drew the others from different countries. That wasn't the case so much in basketball, football, etc...but kids from other countries did have the chance, and did participate, in sports like American football...so everyone had a chance.

At the time, there wasn't much in the visual arts and theater area. My last year, a new professor, whom I believe is still there, started a "Theater" program, so I'm sure there's more to offer now.Music - band was a major component of our daily lives, if you were in it or not. It comprised an entire company on campus, and led us into every meal with the drums, or marching on a Sunday Parade. Band was a very serious and well respected area of schools' core components.

At military school, these sort of activities are built into everyday life, so it's not something you sign up to be a part of. It's included in the cadet lifestyle, so you / your company might have a volunteer trash pickup on a weekend when you're on campus...or assist at the soup kitchen. Those options were plenty available. There were student organizations of like Science Club / Debate Team, etc...but not like there are today, when I was there anyway. I'm sure there's computer / robot clubs to whatever you might want to try to start to share with everyone.

I was in the old dorms, which have since been replaced...so much nicer now. I learned to keep my place clean, and you learn respect of others space as well. I liked it in the sense it was kind of like camp/college. It was where everyone retreated to and where you could have alone time. There wasn't a lot of dorm selection / transfer options...as that was more handled by higher folks in the chain of command. You could keep snacks in closed seal-able containers.

Everyone ate like a football player...the food was always great and a time for everyone to come together and fill up on some great eats. 3 well above average squares a day...you never went hungry.

Gainesville is a very nice town on Lake Lanier, and while you don't visit or get out into town a lot, I really learned to appreciate it. My 1st year in college I had a girlfriend whom I met at college whom was from the town of Gainesville, so that was pretty neat...returning back to the town while in college to see how the town kids had been doing. We had options to visit town and shop, we did and enjoyed it...not a big city life in the smaller town like this, so there wasn't much to do, or get in trouble doing.

A girls boarding school was down the street, and there was some interaction there...but mainly it was a bunch of guys on campus, so you didn't have to pretend to be someone. You could be yourself without the social aspect of the opposite sex affecting your decisions.