FOR THE STUDENTS AT CULVER, LEADERSHIP IS PART OF LEARNING

On the outside, Culver looks like a quaint college campus. It's about two hours from Indianapolis, and you have to drive through the countryside to get there.

The Culver Academies, a military academy for boys and a boarding school for girls, sit on a lake surrounded by woods. The schools, near Plymouth, are brick buildings that have an older look, like they were built in the late 1800s. It looks like a very clean small town.

On the Saturday of CE's visit, the campus was bursting with activity. About 635 students attend the boys' and girls' academies this year, and many of them were in the lunch hall. The boys were dressed in military uniforms, and the girls wore Culver uniforms, which are light-blue shirts and dark plaid pants or skirts. Everyone wore name tags.

In the lunch hall we interviewed four boys and five girls who were outgoing and polite. While the boys' and girls' academies are separate, both sexes eat meals and attend classes and extracurricular activities together.

Culver is a boarding school for students ages 14 to 19 in Grades 9-12. Students wishing to enter Culver must fill out an application and send three evaluations from their current teachers, as well as their transcripts. They also must take an entrance examination and go to Culver for an interview.

Tuition runs about $18,000 a year for students who board at Culver and $10,000 for those who attend only during the day. Costs for uniforms and horsemanship and aviation programs are extra. About half the students receive financial aid.

What we found from our interviews was that while no student liked being away from home, they all liked the activities and challenges of life at Culver.

All the kids enjoyed the academic side of Culver as well as the special opportunities there, such as learning horsemanship and aviation. We talked with three staff members to find out their opinions on Culver and how it differed from other schools.

Al Shine is commandant of cadets, which is like the dean of boys. Kristin Meyers is a biology teacher who graduated from Culver. Ed Little is in charge of the equestrian area. They all felt Culver offered students many advantages over other schools.

One advantage was the military system. The purpose of the military system at Culver is to make leaders out of students, not teach them about the military, the staff members explained.

"The purpose of Culver is not to train the (students) as soldiers," Col. Shine said. "What we do is we use the military structure in the sense to do two things. One is to provide a very structured environment for the girls as well as the boys. It is also a leadership laboratory.

"You are responsible not just for your own being and achievements, but also those of other people. And that's what leadership is all about," he added.

While the girls don't follow the military system, their "prefect system" makes them take leadership roles, too. This system of self- government involves the older girls serving as leaders and mentors to younger girls, who can then progress to higher levels of responsibility. Girls also take leadership courses in conflict resolution, problem solving and discipline, along with others. However, discipline appeared to be less strict for the girls' academy.

"They have their leadership system (where) they do have roles within the school to help the girls that are in the girls' school to understand what their purpose is here and make their experience here a little bit more enjoyable," Meyers explained.

Most students say it's easy to make friends at Culver. There are no cliques or popular groups there, and because most students live on campus, they have something in common.

"You have unity here," Meyers said. "When you go to a high school, you arrive and you leave and you have two different worlds there - you have your home life and your school life.

"When you're here at Culver, you live it 24 hours."

Kids from diverse backgrounds come to Culver. About 17 percent of its student body comes from foreign countries.

"If you come to Culver, you make friends with people all over the world," Meyers said.

Many students go to Culver because of the academic program. Culver offers 33 accelerated and advanced placement classes in 14 subjects, and class sizes are small for more individualized attention.

Students have a two-hour study period every night.

In addition, faculty members can be contacted after school hours if students need help with assignments.

Students also are attracted by the special activities at Culver, such as horsemanship, aviation, fencing and rowing, which aren't offered at most high schools.

"Our horsemanship program is one advantage," Little said. "You have opportunities in different sports. They do fencing, lacrosse and (have) a world-class hockey team."

Shine and Meyers summed up their opinions of Culver.

"What particularly impressed me about Culver was the quality of the people here and also Culver's commitment to developing not only the mind, but also developing character," Shine said.

Meyers added: "We demand a lot, we get a lot, and we expect a lot because what you are here for is to learn, and you have to take advantage of it."

Financial aid, based on need and qualifications, is available for the six- week camps. For more information, call 1-800-5CULVER.

EDITED BY: Eric Hauser, 14.