One Day at a Time

Schools of Last Resort

In this video and narrated gallery, students who attend campuses of a boarding academy for overweight kids describe their fight to lose weight.

The 14-year-old, who arrived just after New Year's Day against her will, is on a three-day "solo." One of the most serious punishments, solos are reserved for violating "nonnegotiables," as the rules against sexual contact or physical aggression are called. Blakely was caught kissing two boys in a single week.

Usually "solos" are packed off to Camp Hope, a Wellspring summer camp 45 minutes away. There they must refrain from talking, cook their own deliberately bland food and reflect on their misdeeds under the supervision of staff. Students at the California campus are sometimes sent to a wilderness or boot camp to "refocus."

Because Camp Hope is unavailable, Blakely spends her solo on campus in isolation. She must sleep in a chilly room by herself and eat meals away from her classmates, and she is forbidden to talk to them or attend class. She was also reduced in rank to the first level, which she fears, correctly, will torpedo her first trip home to Jeffersonville, Ind., the following month.

"I made bad choices," Blakely said, adding that she understood why she was being punished. Her parents were furious and told her that if this was part of a plan to get kicked out, it wouldn't work. "I have thought of running away," she said, but decided against it. Dorm doors and windows are alarmed, and the school is in the middle of nowhere. She's not the first to consider bolting; enrollment contracts allow parents to be billed for "runaway expenses."

Her father, Larry Wilder, said he supports the disciplinary action. Wilder, a lawyer, described his youngest child and the only one with a weight problem as sweet, "but probably as good at manipulating adults as many adults. I think it helped her understand that nonnegotiable means nonnegotiable."

Some parents object to solos as unjustified or overly punitive. Others question whether they should withdraw a child who calls crying about being homesick or miserable, Bishop said. "A lot of times I have to talk to parents about being parents. I say, 'If your child had cancer, would this be up for discussion?' Usually they get on board."

Like many students, Blakely said her life at home had been difficult: Her parents recently split up, a grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and classmates called her "Miss Piggy." Switching schools hadn't helped.

Food has been her enduring source of comfort. Many days she downed 15 cans of Coke and consumed a tube of cinnamon rolls. "I didn't have many friends, so I came home and watched TV and went to bed," she said.

Although there are cliques at Wellspring and "a lot of drama," Blakely said, it's much easier to be surrounded by people familiar with the stares, sniggers and other humiliations routinely visited on obese teenagers. "We were all the fat kids and know what it's like," she said, adding that she's adjusting to Wellspring and likes it better than when she arrived.

While shared suffering can inspire touching acts of kindness, it also breeds bullying, behavior that Bishop said the staff spends a lot of time combating. "As the weight comes off, they act out and do [what was done to them] to other kids."

1 p.m. "SPLENDAHOLICS"

Students surge toward the kitchen serving window, where one precisely measured serving of lunch -- a choice of beefalo or garden burger, bun optional -- and a dessert await, along with a low-fat split pea soup and an unlimited supply of diet soda. The large camp kitchen with its walk-in freezer is locked at night to remove temptation and is off-limits during the day. Students say they like the food and are rarely hungry, even though they exercise about three hours a day.