Press Release
Former Phoenix Academy Student Receives Beat the Odds Award from Children’s Defense Fund
 Ramell Stone Overcame Difficult Childhood to Beat Drugs, Get Education Back on Track
NEW YORK, NY, January 19, 2006 – Several months after completing a stay at the Phoenix Academy of Westchester, Harlem resident Ramell Stone was named as one of five recipients of the prestigious Beat the Odds® Award, given annually by the Children’s Defense Fund.
The award honors high school seniors who have overcome enormous challenges such as poverty, violence, homelessness, and substance abuse to achieve academic success and serve their community. For Ramell (pictured at far left with Phoenix House President Mitchell S. Rosenthal), the challenges were daunting from the day he was born to a troubled family in the Polo Grounds housing project. He turned to drugs to escape problems at home and school and was arrested after his freshman year of high school.
Fortunately for Ramell, the judge allowed him the opportunity to avoid jail by enrollingat Phoenix Academy. The Academy, located just outside of Yorktown in Westchester County, is one of eleven such residential high schools operated across the country by Phoenix House, the nation’s largest nonprofit substance abuse treatment provider.
The Academy model has been proven effective in a study by the RAND Corporation, one of the nation’s most trusted research organizations. Its recent study found that teens treated at a Phoenix Academy demonstrated substantial reductions in drug use and unlawful behavior and an improvement in psychological well-being – and that the Phoenix Academy outperformed other adolescent programs in these areas.
Ramell has become one of the most prominent examples of that success. He completed a fourteen month stay last June and proceeded on to aftercare in New York City. Despite entering the Phoenix Academy with no high school credits, Ramell is now in line to graduate from Independence High School in Manhattan this June.
In making such tremendous strides, both academically and emotionally, Ramell overcame a strong desire to leave the program prematurely. He had continually told his counselors that he would leave when his court mandate was lifted in April 2004. Eventually, however, he followed their advice, completing his junior year and his course of treatment before moving on.
“When the judge sent me to Phoenix House, he gave me a chance that changed my life,” said Ramell. “Despite all the hardships I have been through, I’m still standing. I’m stronger than ever and I know the possibilities are endless.”
“The odds were that Ramell would end up in jail,” said Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D., President of Phoenix House, who introduced Ramell at the luncheon where he received his award. “That’s where his father was when Ramell was born and that’s where Ramell was headed. He was out of control into drugs and under arrest.”
“But a wise and caring judge thought otherwise and sent Ramell to us at Phoenix House,” continued Dr. Rosenthal. “There he learned what every treatment success learns: responsibility, new values, and pride. We’re proud of Ramell, proud of all the kids we treat. They wage a fearsome battle against desperate odds and their own worst natures. Our counselors and teachers show them the way to learning and to recovery. And when they succeed it is their victory not ours.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Contact:
Justin Bernbach
jbernbach@phoenixhouse.org
(646) 505-2094 |
Printer-Friendly
Format