The body is the temple of the soul. Respect for the body and the construction and maintenance of a fit, healthy, strong, and agile Temple is central to our mission. The physical education program remains a vital centerpiece of the Tri-County tradition. All residents participate in our Physical Education program, which is specially designed to cater to the individual needs of each boy, consisting of daily morning, afternoon and bonus disciplinary physical training formations.

We live in a complex society and technological civilization. To be successful, a person needs to know a rather large amount of basic information. At Tri-County Youth Attention Center we take a no-nonsense approach to training our charges for survival in this world. All incoming residents are evaluated for competence and potential in reading, writing, and arithmetic.

We expressly reject the currently popular notion of placing retarded residents with exceptional teachers and placing gifted residents with mediocre ones in the hopes that they will somehow educate the rest. Endless studies have shown that retarded residents can only be advanced so far and to place gifted residents with the mediocre stunts their growth. Instead, we place all residents into programs that maximize their potential, with continuous re-testing and encouragement to accelerate their own tracks.

Beyond the Three Rs, we teach science and technology, economics, geography, sociology, and government.

Evolution is a controversial subject. The Bible teaches that the Earth and all God’s creatures were created in six days and that Evolution is the work of the devil. We teach that Evolution is a theory and pay proper respect to Evolution Science. In other words, while we respect and encourage residents’ spiritual development, we don’t stand for antiscientific nonsense. Evolution is the foundation of all biological sciences including agriculture and medicine. Biology cannot be taught in a meaningful way without teaching evolution.

To make sure that leisure time is spent well, we also teach literature, art, theater, dance, and music.

In addition to purely academic topics, we teach practical sciences as well: carpentry, electrical wiring, plumbing, vehicle mechanics, and all phases of food production and preparation.

Vocational Training programs provide leadership training for the senior residents who supervise the work, and provide opportunity for residents to earn television and guest visitation privileges.

The Food Services Program trains participants for skills in the restaurant and catering areas. A remarkable feature of TCYCC, is that even though summer occupancy exceeds 800 boys plus 60 staff, the entire meal program, involving 3 meals a day (2600 meals) are prepared with assistance of
only three paid employees. All food preparation, serving, kitchen and dining area cleanup work is completed by residents participating in the program. A very profitable enterprise for the Center is the rapidly growing Outside Catering program. Each week, Food Services caters several weddings, picnics and business events, with all food preparation and serving provided by uniformed TCYCC residents.

The Landscape Management Program is the centerpiece of the TCYCC summer program, with over 500 boys participating. Boys maintain the floral areas on campus and tend to the vegetable gardens which provide produce for the Food Services operation. The lawn maintenance program is by far the largest vocational training area. The campus contains nearly 200 acres of lawn which are kept weed-free and manicured by the trainees. When necessary, the lawn is watered from hand-pulled water wagons Each participant is assigned a personal, environmentally friendly lawn mower, and sufficient work is assigned to assure at least 5 to 8 hours of daily lawn mowing experience for each boy. The environmentally friendly nature of the lawn maintenance training program has received great public recognition, and has been expanded to provide contract lawn mowing for many private estates, plus most recently a large private country club golf course. Every day, upon completion of physical training and breakfast, over 300 boys are assigned to community outreach mowing crews, and travel via our buses for mowing assignments. Our catering department assures that food and beverages are available for those eating meals on field locations.

The boys selected for the Campus Maintenance Program perform customary janitorial services, such as daily cleaning of all public area restrooms, floor surfaces, windows, gymnasiums, etc. In addition they provide valet services for the paid administrative staff. Similarly, they clean and organize the dorm rooms and facilities housing the senior residents, who supervise the resident labor details.

We believe that Discipline ultimately comes from within, so all our behavior rules are structured with the goal in mind of encouraging residents to develop self-discipline. However, some residents are unable to discipline themselves, so they are assisted in learning that skill through external discipline. This ranges from on-the-spot punishments to periods of confinement in the Administration building’s confinement dormitory. Since residents are expected to complete class work even though serving disciplinary time, the confinement dormitory is linked to classrooms via two-way CCTV link.