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Zion Youth Academy Seeks to Inspire Young Minds
By Stephen Vincent
The Zion Youth Academy, about to start its sophomore season, seeks to be a hybrid between home schooling and a private school.
“There are many people who like the idea of home schooling, but they just don't feel like they're qualified enough to do it,” said Stephen Palmer, one of the school's founders and one of its principal mentors. “This gives them an outlet to do that.”
The purpose of the academy is to augment the educational work parents are doing at home, and to help encourage parents to oversee their child's education while instilling in each child the desire to learn.
The school meets three days a week, Tuesday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The abbreviated schedule is meant to accommodate the parents' home schooling interests, but it also provides the challenge to the school's mentors to provide high-quality education while the kids are there.
The school's founders believe they have done just that, creating a curriculum based on Oliver DeMille's study of the education of historical leaders. DeMille, the founder of George Wythe College in Cedar City, studied the way some of the great world leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson and Joan of Arc, were educated, to search for common denominators.
DeMille emerged with five key components he believes makes for a quality education: mentors, field experiences, simulations, God and a study of the classics. DeMille's model is based on the work of George Wythe, who educated Thomas Jefferson.
Perhaps the key difference between the educational experience at Zion Youth Academy and that of a traditional education is the use of mentors instead of teachers. Each class is limited to 15 students, and in each class, the mentor seeks to guide and inspire the kids, rather than lecture and instruct.
Another difference, Palmer said, is that in his administrative role, he answers to the mentors and the parents and not the other way around.  
A key component of using the Jeffersonian approach to education is to involve God in each subject, said Elisa Larsen, another of the school's founders. The school, which is LDS-based, uses God as one of the four themes, along with liberty, prosperity and family.
The children move through four different phases of learning in their time at the academy, beginning with a foundations phase for the younger kids and finishing with leadership and scholar phases for the older kids.
Ultimately, the academy's goal is to keep parents empowered in their child's education, and to help each child develop a thirst for learning.
Opened last year, the academy had 65 students in their initial year, and Palmer said he expects to have about the same number this year.
“We want to be here for the long haul for those who are struggling with the traditional way,” Larsen said. “Some kids work really well in public schools. We don't want to be negative about public education because it works for some families. We are here to give another option.”
The school, located at 100 East and Tabernacle Street, Suite 102, in St. George, is hosting an open house on Aug. 7 at 7 p.m. Tuition costs are $250 per month, and another $230 annually has to be paid in fees.

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