Here is a portion of what I experienced at Mountain Park:..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I arrived on Jan. 5, 1992. I had been in New Bethany Home for Girls before arriving, but the former school was closed down temporarily due to allegations of child abuse. My parents took me straight to Mountain Park and dropped me off after talking to the Wills for a little over an hour. I was there until July of 1994, choosing to stay and work for the summer after I graduated rather than to go home to an abusive situation there which I found far worse.

While a student there, I witnessed several students being spanked- only through a window and by sound- and also the public berating and ridicule of both myself and other classmates. My mail was censored both incoming and outgoing, and whatever we wrote in our letters or told in phone calls of our own true opinions of Mountain Park were used against us for more berating and ridicule. If a student chose not to be saved or not to believe the Christian message they preached daily in the school, the Wills/Gerhardts would tell the parents that the child was a non-conformist and would not function well on the outside. The same for those who believed they were being mistreated and tried to speak out against it. For those who told their parents the truth, the parents were told that the child was obviously lying in an attempt to gain pity and be sent home.

Schoolwork was actually considered secondary there to the spiritual growth of the student. The day began at approximately 5:45am, however I can recall instances where the students were forced to wake up at 4am to clean the dorm because the staff didn't feel that the girls were getting adequate cleaning time.

 After the girls wake up, they must hurriedly make their beds and take their Bibles to the center of their dorm area to read the daily Proverb chapter, then get dressed and be in the line for breakfast by 6:15am. After breakfast, the students finish getting ready for school and then make sure the dorm is spotlessly clean before heading to the school room by 7am for morning Scripture memorization. Each student is required to memorize no less than 3 verses of the Bible daily, and in long passages must quote the new verses along with all verses previously learned in the passage each morning or will be punished with writing assignments- usually lines, or with swats if they can not master the memorization quickly.

After "memory time", the students gather for a morning devotion with the male leader of the school for the day. This person will give a small Bible lesson for the day, then the students return to their desks for the day and begin their schoolwork. The curriculum is through the "School of Tomorrow" . http://www.schooloftomorrow.com/index.asp  This is a Bible-based curriculum where the student learns at his or her own pace and is a "teach yourself" program.

Each student learns at his or her own pace, on their own level of understanding. This seems like a good method, and when used effectively it is VERY effective. However, this curriculum is intended to be supplemented with books and labs and outside activities not allowed by MP, therefore the students don't get the full benefit of this program. MP has no licensed teachers, and only a small number of their staff has been educated outside of HS, in fact most of their younger staff members are simply former students who have stayed on believing the staff's threats that they would not be able to make it in the outside world without falling back into trouble. The untrained staff do not know how to properly deal with students who have learning disabilities or are simply not understanding the work, and they blame the student for a "lack of effort" simply telling the parents they need to remain there longer. Students are given a diagnostic test in both Math and English when they arrive to test their educational ability. However, once this is determined, the student is basically left on their own with the "teach yourself" perspective. They have too many students to be able to give them each the individual attention that this type of curriculum needs, so many of them still "fall through the cracks". The grading system said that anything below an 80 was failing and had to be retaken, therefore giving the Wills their "educational excellence" rating they wanted.

Most of the students have had some type of trouble in school, and many had stopped attending altogether, so they are not on the level they should be in their studies, but with the way the school is set up, they don't get the help that they need to get back up to where they should be. They do the work that is presented to them, they get the credits for it, but many students graduate from MP with a 9th or 10th grade level education when you look at the schoolwork they've completed. When they leave with diplomas in hand and attempt to enroll in college, many are either turned away, or must take remedial courses to catch up to their college classmates. Most cannot function in college because of the lack of guidance they received in their studies and their inability to cope in a normal classroom setting.

After the school day ends- usually around 3:30-4pm, the leader of the school for the day- at the time I was a student it was Debby Gerhardt- will stand up in front of the students and give the daily berating and tell how the students had failed to meet up to their goals of the day. Seldom was there praise for students, it was usually criticism. Line assignments were handed out (2 demerits warranted 250 lines due in 48 hours "While in school I will behave in a studious manner.") If other punishments were necessary the student would be berated in front of the group and told what to expect. Schoolwork was not allowed to be taken out of the school room to prevent cheating on work, so the students had to put away all books, PACE's, and supplies in their desks. Once this was done, the students were released to the dorms to begin cleaning and showers before dinner at 5:30. Dinner usually consisted of a sandwich and fruit, chips, or crackers as the main meal was in the middle of the day.

Each evening's activities were structured around Biblical study. Monday night's activity for the young women included a 2 hour Bible study with an older female staff member. Tuesday night was time for silent Bible reading and prayer on each student's bunk. Wednesday night was church. Thursday night could be another Bible study with a staff member or individual Bible reading and prayer again. Friday night was the night most girls' looked forward to, as they were allowed to watch old Disney movies with no cursing, violence, or any type of "worldly" content. They were served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, popcorn, caffeine free sodas, and a small amount of candy- no chocolate or caffeine of any kind. This was the Friday night meal. They brought blankets into the dining hall and laid on the floor as they ate and watched their movie. Saturdays were spent cleaning the dorms and grounds thoroughly. If the girls cleaned acceptably without much talking or other interruptions, they sometimes were allowed to watch a movie after their dinner and showers on Saturdays. This was not often. Sundays were spent in church both morning and evening with mandatory naps between.

Dress code was strictly enforced. For the boys, they had to have Wrangler "cowboy-style" dress jeans in both blue and brown, solid color shirts, and no ads or writing on any of their clothing. for school, solid color slacks and short sleeved shirts with ties. wing-tip shoes for church, with a suit jacket in black, navy, or brown. For females, dresses, skirts, or split skirts at all times. No denim, no leather of any kind. No black shirts or blouses. Heels and hosiery for church, flats and hosiery for school. Makeup was required for church services, as well as having your hair curled or at least "fixed up" in some way as to be pleasing to the staff. Girls could not have their hair too curly or too straight. When I was there, my hair was always too straight and I was told to curl it, it was naturally straight. When other girls with perms or naturally curly hair came in, they were made to straighten it and put it in rollers to keep it from looking "worldly". Nothing was ever good enough, but at the same time, they told us God gave us our looks for a reason and we were to please Him and look "natural". Overweight girls- anyone over a size 5' were put on a strict diet, and not usually by choice. They were not usually allowed off until the head female- at the time was Mrs. Wills- allowed them to.

Children's mail was censored. It was read coming in and going out, and if the staff didn't like what the students said, they would either mark through the letter with a marker or they would throw the entire letter away and you would never know if your parents ever received a letter. I remember coming on a visit and my best friend showed me letters they had marked through and asked me why- in one I was writing the words to Jingle Bells at Christmas time and the school didn't allow it because the song wasn't about God. If a student complained in a letter or phone call about their treatment they were berated and usually punished with a restriction of privileges, what little they had. The parents would be told by the staff to expect such complaints in letters and on calls because the students "usually lied to the parents hoping to get out and get back into corruption." Therefore, most parents didn't believe the students when they were actually telling the truth.

Students weren't allowed to have "Best Friends" there. If they were too close to one particular classmate, they would be "separated" from them. This means they were not allowed to talk to, look at, or be very close to that classmate for a long period of time, lasting anywhere from 6 months to the entire rest of their stay. They believed a bond could lead to students talking about their past and getting ideas of escaping together. The more of a bond they had, the more likely they were to survive they estimated.

Punishments ranged anywhere from 100 lines to indefinite swats. I personally never received swats while I was there, however I witnessed many. I was very close to getting them, was threatened many times, but never actually got them. I have been told by other survivors that they received as many as 12 and witnessed as many as 38 administered to one young man at one time until the boy was bleeding from his back to the tops of his thighs.

Public ridicule was the norm, and as most teens are very susceptible to peer pressure and torment, they all felt the need to go with the crowd. When one student was being ridiculed and tormented, it didn't matter if the other students considered that one a friend, when it came to the public humiliation, everyone participated, simply grateful that it wasn't them, and feeling the power of making someone else feel worse than they did at the moment. I guess it was some sort of release for each student to be able to torment another. The "Bully Syndrome". But when the staff started on you, you learned to fade into the background very quickly. One student who was a little slower than the other girls had asked to be allowed to go to the bathroom before a movie one Friday night and was told no. She couldn't wait the entire time and ended up wetting on herself before the movie was over. When Mrs. Gerhardt found out about this, she told all of the girls to stand up in a circle and point and laugh at her, calling her a baby and said she needed to be in diapers. She was forced to carry around a baby chair and a pacifier after this for weeks. Another young girl had some sort of disorder which made her look and act much younger than she was. I believe the girl was 12 but looked 7 or 8 and was far behind in her school work. She was forced to sit in a baby chair, was ridiculed many times over for her schoolwork and slow progress, rarely did I ever see a staff member offering to assist her, and usually then with no patience, berating her when she didn't understand. She began to do things to get on students' and staff members' nerves to gain the attention she wasn't getting but needed. She was then not allowed to speak to anyone but staff members and select orientation guides. After this punishment and "separation" from the rest of the students, this child completely stopped functioning. She would not even bathe and had to be given baths by other girls. Certain girls would be selected to be held responsible for her care, to make sure she followed rules and bathed, brushed her teeth, combed her hair and cleaned up after herself. Other girls would resort to throwing up after meals in an attempt to starve themselves. Many different methods were used in an attempt for either attention or an attempt to get out.

We were denied medical attention unless the student had a pre-existing medical condition that the parents had already made arrangements to have treated upon the student's arrival. Illness and most injuries were usually overlooked by staff or simply medicated with Tylenol or ice packs, no matter the severity. Over-the-counter medication required permission from Mrs. Wills or Gerhardt, and the permission was usually granted, unless a girl seemed to have an ongoing problem. In those cases, the student was called a hypochondriac and told she didn't need anything, it was all in her head. Mood and emotionally altering medications, even those prescribed by physicians, were not allowed. The owners of MP firmly believe that psychological disorders and chemical imbalances are all "made up" by worldly people who need an excuse for their actions. They believe God will cure whatever ails you, and you do not need medication to correct the problem. If a girl was allowed to go to the doctor, they were warned ahead of time not to tell the doctor about the abuse they were receiving, because the doctor had been told already that the students would make up lies about their treatment.

When I was a student of MP, the bathrooms had no stalls to begin with, and once installed, they had no doors for quite some time. We had "bathroom monitors" for quite a while to insure that girls didn't make a mess of the toilet/shower rooms. Girls were given one roll of toilet paper a week and their names were written inside the roll. This was the ration. If you used it all before your week was up, you were punished with writing assignments. Usually 200 lines. Shower time was limited to 7 minutes, 5 on the nights where there were activities (church or Bible study)  scheduled. Each shower room had a monitor who would take names on a list and time everyone during their showers.

Chores for boys and girls were vastly different. Girls did all of the inside work- cleaning the kitchen and dining hall, serving the food, cleaning the school/church room, setting up and taking down the desks and chairs for church services, sweeping the fenced areas on the compound, washing dishes, filling ice trays, and helping with light cooking duties- local women were brought in during the day to prepare the lunch meal, but for breakfast and the evening meal the girls were responsible. The young men were responsible for the keeping of the grounds, taking the garbage to be burned or added to the compost heap, caring for the horses, cleaning the pool, helping with building and other heavy chores. Both Boys and Girls were responsible for cleaning their respective dorms, doing the laundry, and keeping their belongings spotless at all times.

The men could learn carpentry in the shop, etc. Women learned Home Economics. The values of our grandparents seemed to be the prevalent thing- women worked in the kitchen and had children. That was what we were taught was important. Men worked out in the field or with their hands. Women were taught to be silent and respectful to the men. Women were not allowed to speak in church at all, even to say Amen to a particularly touching statement or to offer a prayer. We were taught to nod our heads silently, as church was to be run by the men, and they were the only ones who needed to speak. Women were only to teach other women when there was no man present.

Sermons often included extremely racist and sexist slurs. Rev. Wills often preached from the pulpit- even with black students present- that "black people look different, act different, smell different and worship a different God than you or I do. I wouldn't live next door to one, and you shouldn't either." I've know him many times to preach that racially mixed couples were an abomination to God and would be destined for Hell. I know of one group from Chicago that was a predominately black Baptist Mission and they were invited to speak at MP. After a particularly moving sermon and song service from the visiting group, the students were informed by Rev. Wills after their departure that the way Blacks worship God, their excitement for the Lord, was wrong. "You are to worship silently and reverently, that excitement is of the Devil," he had said. Any music, even Christian, with a beat or drums was considered satanic. Anything that made you want to move to the rhythm was not of God and not allowed, according to them. Rev. Wills was also fond of downgrading any denomination of Christianity other than his own. If a student came in that was not fundamental Baptist, he would research their religion and begin to bash every aspect of it, all the way to insulting the clergy. Priests were described as "men who turn their collars around backwards and dress like mothers but call themselves Fathers". Pentecostals were described as "needing an interpreter for what Satan was telling them". One girl while I was there was a Buddhist and had written home upset that she was not allowed to celebrate a Buddhist holiday. Mrs. Gerhardt told the whole group about her letter and lead the girls in a round of laughter.

Students' belongings were searched as they came in, as well as any packages they received from their parents. They were not allowed any magazines, newspapers, or secular books of any kind. Only Wills' approved reading material could come into the dorms. We were not allowed unapproved music, no television of any kind, no movies other than the old Disney movies they allowed on Friday nights, no communication with the outside world other than the phone calls from our parents- every 2 weeks for 10 minutes, and letters- we were allowed to write 2 per week, one had to be to your parents, and they could only be 1 page during your first year, 2 pages thereafter. Your parents could write to you as often as they liked, but they were read by the staff before you could have them. With so many girls and so few staff, mail didn't always get to you in a hurry.

This is only a portion of what I experienced while at Mountain. Park, but I am trying to keep this in readable length.