Boarding schools in USA: Military schools.
Borja Pérez-Mínguez | Travel blog
In some of our latest trips to visit the best boarding schools in the United States, we traveled to the states of Alabama, California, Texas and Florida, where we were able to confirm a new growing spectacular alternative for international students looking for a more disciplined environment, the military boarding schools.
The options we selected are divided in 3 different categories:
- Standard private boarding schools with additional military options, so regular students live at the same school as the military program students.
- Mixed military schools.
- Boys only military schools.
At any of the above mentioned alternatives of the academic year program the purpose is always the same: personal growth, leadership skills, discipline, and becoming part of something bigger than themselves.
Among all the students we met in our trips participating in these programs we founded all kind of alumns: some of them mentioned a military school was not their first choice and they were signed by their parents to redirect their low performance academic results. Others, on the other hand told us it had been their own personal choice since they came from military tradition families and backgrounds. The third type was students who studied at standard boarding schools but eventually joined the military programs some of them offered.
The most important feature that defines the military schools is the improvement capacity and personal growth the cadets experience. Thanks to the military different grades, the inculcated respect to their superiors, teamwork and the encouraged desire to improve their results, all students consider themselves as a part of the family and they will be eager to provide all needed help to any other recruit so they can all achive their full potential.
It’s essential to keep in mind all students are completely different and have their own motivations to participate in the programs, but even so they are all unlike the students from standard boarding schools. They all pointed out how much they had changed, the level of discipline and the leadership skills they learned while participating in the military programs they all also applied to their personal lives outside the school and with their own families.
Like any other of the programs we promote at International Academic Programs in order to select the perfect school for each candidate, we must know in advance the student’s profile, interests and type of program they are looking for. Some schools offer more traditional military programs just for boys located in rural environments and with modest facilities without unnecessary luxuries while other schools are designed for the students who struggle the most with their academic results and need more discipline. On a different note we can find another type of students, the ones who have great academic results and want to join aviation programs to become pilots in the future.
For a different kind of experience, there are other mixed schools with state of the art facilities located in warm areas close to the ocean like Florida or California, and offer spectacular water related programs like sailing, scuba diving and many other options. A great alternative for parents who want a military school but not as strict as the modest ones.
About weekend activities the students can practice paintball (as you will see in our report below), learn survivor skills, orientation, nature related activities, kajaking, hiking, etc.
Some of the most disciploned military schools offer important incentives to students for good behaviour or academic performace, keeping their bedrooms and the uniforms tidy, etc, so students can earn privileges like free hot dogs, burgers, pizzas, going to the movies, playing pool or ping pong. Thanks to the disciplined environment students show the best possible attitudes.
At the following link you will find all the details of the program: https://www.internationalacademicprograms.es/en/usa-boarding/
