Academy of the Sierras Opens in North Carolina
First school for weight loss in the Eastern and Southern U. S. opens in Brevard, NC with founding class of 11 students.
BREVARD, NC (PRWEB) February 6, 2007
Academy of the Sierras North Carolina, the world's first school for weight loss outside of California, opened today in Brevard, NC with a founding class of 11 students.
"We're excited to announce the opening of our second campus," said Phil Obbard, Executive Director of Academy of the Sierras California, the world's first school for weight loss. "With our California program near capacity with 100 students, and as families in the Eastern and Southern United States often prefer to keep their children closer to home, Academy of the Sierras North Carolina is well-positioned to help thousands of overweight and obese children return to a normal weight and successfully control their weight through adolescence and adulthood."
The founding class at Academy of the Sierras North Carolina (AOSNC) consists of 11 students ages 11-16 from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Rhode Island and Germany. Students range from 40 lbs. overweight to as much as 200 lbs. overweight.
Located in a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains on a 220-acre campus near the town of Brevard, AOSNC offers activities as diverse as personal training, skateboarding, rock climbing, whitewater kayaking and tennis in addition to nutrition and culinary classes, and a core curriculum of math, science, social studies and language arts for grades 6 through 10. Hiking, camping and outdoor adventure activities are a staple of AOSNC, as the campus is bordered by over 2 million acres of public lands that include Pisgah, Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests, Dupont and Gorges State Parks and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Starting today and continuing through AOSNC's first month, the founding class of students will participate in an orientation expedition that will take them through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. This expedition will jump-start student weight loss and commitment to a new, healthy lifestyle.
Ryan Madamba, Executive Director of AOSNC, said he expects the same remarkable results in North Carolina as Academy of the Sierras has achieved on its California campus. "Through a scientifically based program that combines diet and activity management, education, training and cognitive-behavioral therapy, AOS has helped hundreds of students return to a normal weight range and maintain their weight loss at home. AOSNC's therapists, educators, nutrition and culinary instructors, recreational therapists and outdoor education professionals - many of whom were trained at AOS - are deeply committed to the success of our new students and are very excited to bring long-term weight control to children in the Southeast."
Academy of the Sierras North Carolina is a residential school of Healthy Living Academies. Healthy Living Academies is the leading organization of treatment programs for pediatric and adolescent obesity. Healthy Living Academies programs include Academy of the Sierras California, Academy of the Sierras North Carolina, Wellspring New York, Wellspring Adventure Camp, Wellspring Adventure Camp California, Wellspring Texas, Wellspring Hawaii, Wellspring Family Camp in Michigan, and Wellspring UK. To learn more about Academy of the Sierras, Wellspring Camps or Healthy Living Academies, visit www. healthylivingacademies. com or call 866-364-0808.
Healthy Living Academies is a division of Aspen Education Group, the nation's leading provider of education programs for struggling or underachieving young people. With over 30 programs in 12 states and the United Kingdom, Aspen provides a comprehensive range of therapeutic interventions, including boarding schools, residential treatment and wilderness therapy. Aspen Education Group is a division of CRC Health Group, the nation's largest chemical dependency and related behavioral health organization. For more information, visit www. aspeneducation. com or call 888-972-7736.
###
