It's only been in existence for little more than a year, but the "River's Edge Academy" in Shasta County's Juvenile Hall has been very successful in turning teenagers' lives around.

Chief Probation Officer Tracie Neal gave me a tour of the academy inside the juvenile hall. Youth who are eligible for the program are housed here. They get special privileges and wear special uniforms.

Only the second such academy in the state, River's Edge opened in April of last year and had its first graduation this April.

"We've only been open a year but we've just seen come great success," said Tracie Neal. "When you're around the kids, you can really see their confidence that they're gaining. They're thinking differently, they have goals, they're excited about attending Shasta College and they really want to improve their lives."

There's a "living room" and a classroom where they learn skills and credits toward high school graduation under Teacher Anders Benoit.

"Our goal is, is that we're reintegrating them into communities, slowly, and we're doing so safely," said Anders Benoit. "And we're doing so in a way that, when they get out, it isn't just a, boom, you're out. It's, 'I'm prepared. I have the skills necessary to be able to be really successful.'"

As they move through the program, they can be furloughed to attend mainstream high schools, get jobs, always returning in the evening for any support and treatment they need.

I was shown the rooms of a couple of the teens. They've done something to put them here but they come from tough home lives.

"I had a bad past, man. A lot of stuff happened. But this program has helped me cope with that. It helps me get jobs in here, helps me get my driver's license; it helps me with a lot of things. I can talk to staff about my problems and they help me with that," said one of the program members named "Edward."

"It's kind of like how our parents would raise us. They expect us to do chores and be a normal kid. This program expects us to have the childhood that most of us kids have not got to experience," said one of the program members named "Teresa."

The goal is to, really, keep our youth local, keep them connected to services, and really support them in a variety of different ways to enhance and ensure that they're going to have a successful transition when they return to the community," said Tracie Neal. "And, just become healthy, young adults.

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