Columbus Girls Academy

Columbus Girls Academy

• 

  Grades
  7-12

• 

  Gender
  All-girl

• 

  Students
  

• 

  Teachers
  

School Profile

City

Seale, AL

Setting

Lakeside

Religion

Christian (non-denom.) 

Teachers

 

S/T Ratio*

 

Columbus Girls Academy (Alabama)

Columbus Girls Academy is a year-round Christian boarding school for girls ages 12 – 17. We offer a loving, relational, and affordable program just for girls with life-controlling issues. We feature a first-class school, equine therapy, spiritual support, and counseling to repair behavioral issues brought on by trauma, adoption, family discord, or peer pressure. 

Columbus Girls Academy offers a first-class structured environment for struggling teenage girls. The Christian school and therapeutic program focus on character growth, spiritual life, and personal responsibility to help girls overcome life-controlling issues. Columbus Girls Academy offers help to troubled girls through four main components: spiritual, academic, physical, and social.

Residents at Columbus Girls Academy receive professional counseling, both individually and in group settings. However, the therapeutic program extends well beyond formal counseling sessions. Every interaction with school staff, counselors, and peers presents an opportunity for growth in relationships and respect for others. They foster a positive peer culture in which each teen assumes responsibility for her own actions and holds others accountable for their choices. In this way, teens positively influence one another, and they begin to make the right decisions out of a genuine change of heart. They encourage teens to shift their focus away from themselves and serve others through community service and special projects, mission trips, and other outings.

Students at Columbus Girls Academy pursue high school diplomas through an accredited Christian education curriculum. Girls benefit from personalized lessons, multimedia enrichment, instruction from qualified teachers, and a unique credit recovery program. Columbus Girls Academy is registered as a non-public school with the State of Alabama.

Girls and their families enjoy the tranquility of the 200-acre campus, which includes a 35-acre lake for canoeing, paddle boats, and fishing, as well as hiking trails, a swimming pool, and sports facilities. Columbus Girls Academy is a special place where teenage girls experience life transformation, and families find restored relationships.

Columbus Girls Academy therapy involves an interpretation or identification of why the inappropriate behaviors are occurring and then contextualizes these reasons as a function of what erroneous assumptions are in place regarding meeting basic needs. Through discipleship curriculum and ongoing pastoral counseling relative to the curriculum content, the students can discover their incorrect assumptions and replace them with a relationship with God.

Students come to Columbus Girls Academy with dysfunctional behaviors and attitudes. Counseling and education at Columbus Girls Academy generally involve integrating principles from various psychological disciplines and with varying philosophical underpinnings.

Along with individual and group counseling, this assigned counselor is also responsible for ensuring smooth delivery of all CGA services to the student and family. The counselor is the point of contact for the family, available to answer questions and update the student’s progress.

Group counseling occurs regularly, guided by the pastoral counselors on staff here at CGA. This time is utilized to allow students an opportunity to grapple with and resolve commonly faced issues. Students learn to constructively express their thoughts, ideas, and questions in an environment where each member is accepted and respected. Group counseling is not utilized to scrutinize individual members or glorify past poor decisions.

Each evening, residents attend an Evening Group Time. This special time of sharing is staff-directed and designed to promote growth and unity in the dorm. Some of the topics that the staff may discuss include Positive Peer influence, Accountability, Personal Responsibility, Peer Reconciliation, and Conflict Resolution.

Aftercare Program

Columbus Girls Academy is committed to the continued success of its students. Before completing the program, a Parent/Student contract will be developed by the counselor, student, and family. The contract’s goal will be to define and uphold the boundaries within the home. The contract topics include the re-establishment of trust, specific responsibilities, guidelines, conflict resolution, educational goals, and spiritual commitments. Columbus Girls Academy will work with the student and family to set up a home support system before the student graduated from the program.

Emerging Leaders Program

Columbus Girls Academy is interested in recovery and has also recognized the need to train up the next generation of leaders. The Emerging Leader’s program is an extended training program designed to identify, equip and train emerging leaders through the mentoring, curriculum, and training through an on-site internship. Columbus Girls Academy typically has 8-10 students from its student body enrolled in the program. The ELP is a voluntary opportunity available to students enrolled in CGA. Students accepted into the ELP have a three-month internship with CGA after graduation.

Contact Information

Associations & Organizations

Photo Source: School Website and/or Social Media Data Source: NCES: 00939414

Other Boarding Schools in Alabama