Interview for ex-WWASPS Students
A 25 question interview of ex-students who attended WWASPS schools. Answers to each question can be found on the page links below.
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Question 2. How did you feel when you realized that the program was an involuntary, lock-down institution, not just a regular school?
"When I was first kidnapped in the middle of the night, they wouldn't tell me where I was going until we got to the border, and when they said it was a school, I didn't really care because I was still so shocked and upset about being kidnapped and how nobody in my house responded to my screaming. When I actually got there I realized this place is a shithole. When I learned it was a lock-down facility and you can't even talk to the girls next to you or call your parents, I couldn't handle it, I kept crying for days. It was the first time that that facility began the process of breaking me." - C.A., Casa by the Sea
"The night before I was to be sent away, I stole the brochure from my parents room and called the number, pretending to be a parent. When I asked how long kids were to stay, and heard at least one year, I became noticeably upset and the telephone operator started to question who I was. I hung up. I snuck a call into my best friend and told her what was going to happen to me. I knew the program was strict behavior modification, that I was going to be there for a long time, etc. She tried to rescue me from my house but my plans were thwarted by my father. When I arrived and realized how bad it truly was, I spent days crying and filled with anger. I wrote my parents a scathing letter, telling them to come get me or risk never speaking to me again. I begged to go to jail or to rehab. I fought against it mentally until I became tired and simply started to go with the program. I was turning 18 in only a few months and was terrified of being court ordered to stay, or receiving a plane ticket to Miami and $50." - C.M., Tranquility Bay
"I was shocked, outraged, felt abandoned and lied to by my parents." - B.B., Ivy Ridge & Tranquility Bay
"I was shown a video from my parents about Casa by the Sea. I saw horse back riding, people on the beach playing, it looked to me, like a nice treatment center and I had no other choice but to go there or juvenile hall. So I told them by all means, send me to the Horse back riding place!(They showed me this two months before I was sent to Casa by the Sea) Little did i know, my OWN cousin, Luke Hallows, would be kidnapping me and taking me away from my family. My parents said we are going to see your Aunt in San Diego, so I was very excited. When we pulled into a Walmart parking lot, I happened to look out our motor home window and saw Luke's head passing by about to come in. I instantly ran to the back of the motor home, balling my eyes out and pleading to not let me go with him. Luke, and his wife and their 1 year old daughter were all there. They told me I had no choice, I had to go. Screaming and crying and being thrown in the back of their van with their little one year old daughter, my cousin, flesh in blood, took me to Casa by the Sea in Ensenada Mexico against my will. I quietly asked through my cries how long I am going there for, Luke laughed and said well, for sure over a year! When i arrived, there were girls all on blue sweatpants and gray shirts sitting on hard tile floors...staring at me as I walked by. I was stripped search, given some clothes and sandals, a basket where I could have my personal hygiene items, a towel, and an extra set of blue sweats, gray shirt and a sweater. On level one through three you were not allowed to wear shoes, only for an hour during our exercise time. My first few weeks I slept on a mattress on the ground, and our shower time was exactly 10 minutes long, in either scalding hot water, or freezing cold water. This went on for about 8 months until they decided to build a huge community shower area were a girl had to watch you." - J.C., Casa by the Sea
"I was rather surprised when I realized that the school was a lock-down institution similar to jail. I was under the impression it was a normal boarding school where you could still go off campus while not in class, the brochure had many listed activities that sounded like it would make my time there bearable. To my surprise when I got there those things did not exist." - A.E., Casa by the Sea
"I was escorted there in the middle of the night. I cannot describe how powerless and terrified I became when I realized a lot of these girls had been there for over a year and still had not earned many privileges. I felt like a prisoner who was put in jail for a crime that she didn’t commit. To call it a “school” is a joke- there were no teachers and it was independent study." - L.W., Cross Creek Manor
"I actually saw what was going on in R&R my first day and wanted to call the police. I actually bucked up and demanded that I use the phone. I wanted to call my parents and the police to let them know what was going on." - Anon, Casa by the Sea
"Oh I loved it I was stripped naked the first 5 seconds I was there in front of a bunch of people I didn’t know and threatened with extreme violence in 7 seconds." - D.G., Casa by the Sea & Ivy Ridge
"Well I cried every night. I hated being controlled I wanted my mom to come rescue me. I felt like I was being mentally attacked and helpless." - C.L., Casa by the Sea
"When I realized what kind of school it was, I thought I had made a big mistake. I thought I had left to attend a school to finish my education, not to be reformed. I wrote to my mother a few times stating the school was not as it seems, and I had been sent to worksheet for those comments. During group, I always stated that I was only there to finish school, and then get out." - A.T., Casa by the Sea
"When I arrived to Casa I remember not really grasping the fact of what my parents had sent me to. But when I finally understood that there was no turning back until either i graduated or got pulled infuriated me... I didn't understand why my parents had taken such drastic measure to understand how to help. I felt like my parents easiest way of “taking care of the problem” was sending it away, and expecting to get a totally “new” reformed child." - N.R., Casa by the Sea
"I had no idea I was going to a program in the first place. My parents told me we were going on a vacation in Mexico for the weekend. My sister was woken up in the middle of the night and taken to her program in Utah. I was the oldest and kinda figured that it wouldn't happen to me. Especially since I was 6 months away from being 18 when we went on our "vacation". Once there, I already knew it wasn't voluntary. I flipped out and spent the next 3 hours in R&R." - G.A., Casa by the Sea
"I was surprised. I came to the school in a daze, escorted by two guys. The night before I was out partying, and by the time I recovered from drinking, smoking, and snorting, I was already in a car getting to the border. I don’t really remember the flight to San Diego or getting into a car at the airport. But by the time I realized this was a boarding school type of environment, I was just in shock. I thought the whole time at home, I wasn’t that bad of a kid. I was just a pot head that liked to party." - J.K., Casa by the Sea
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Question 2. How did you feel when you realized that the program was an involuntary, lock-down institution, not just a regular school?
"When I was first kidnapped in the middle of the night, they wouldn't tell me where I was going until we got to the border, and when they said it was a school, I didn't really care because I was still so shocked and upset about being kidnapped and how nobody in my house responded to my screaming. When I actually got there I realized this place is a shithole. When I learned it was a lock-down facility and you can't even talk to the girls next to you or call your parents, I couldn't handle it, I kept crying for days. It was the first time that that facility began the process of breaking me." - C.A., Casa by the Sea
"The night before I was to be sent away, I stole the brochure from my parents room and called the number, pretending to be a parent. When I asked how long kids were to stay, and heard at least one year, I became noticeably upset and the telephone operator started to question who I was. I hung up. I snuck a call into my best friend and told her what was going to happen to me. I knew the program was strict behavior modification, that I was going to be there for a long time, etc. She tried to rescue me from my house but my plans were thwarted by my father. When I arrived and realized how bad it truly was, I spent days crying and filled with anger. I wrote my parents a scathing letter, telling them to come get me or risk never speaking to me again. I begged to go to jail or to rehab. I fought against it mentally until I became tired and simply started to go with the program. I was turning 18 in only a few months and was terrified of being court ordered to stay, or receiving a plane ticket to Miami and $50." - C.M., Tranquility Bay
"I was shocked, outraged, felt abandoned and lied to by my parents." - B.B., Ivy Ridge & Tranquility Bay
"I was shown a video from my parents about Casa by the Sea. I saw horse back riding, people on the beach playing, it looked to me, like a nice treatment center and I had no other choice but to go there or juvenile hall. So I told them by all means, send me to the Horse back riding place!(They showed me this two months before I was sent to Casa by the Sea) Little did i know, my OWN cousin, Luke Hallows, would be kidnapping me and taking me away from my family. My parents said we are going to see your Aunt in San Diego, so I was very excited. When we pulled into a Walmart parking lot, I happened to look out our motor home window and saw Luke's head passing by about to come in. I instantly ran to the back of the motor home, balling my eyes out and pleading to not let me go with him. Luke, and his wife and their 1 year old daughter were all there. They told me I had no choice, I had to go. Screaming and crying and being thrown in the back of their van with their little one year old daughter, my cousin, flesh in blood, took me to Casa by the Sea in Ensenada Mexico against my will. I quietly asked through my cries how long I am going there for, Luke laughed and said well, for sure over a year! When i arrived, there were girls all on blue sweatpants and gray shirts sitting on hard tile floors...staring at me as I walked by. I was stripped search, given some clothes and sandals, a basket where I could have my personal hygiene items, a towel, and an extra set of blue sweats, gray shirt and a sweater. On level one through three you were not allowed to wear shoes, only for an hour during our exercise time. My first few weeks I slept on a mattress on the ground, and our shower time was exactly 10 minutes long, in either scalding hot water, or freezing cold water. This went on for about 8 months until they decided to build a huge community shower area were a girl had to watch you." - J.C., Casa by the Sea
"I was rather surprised when I realized that the school was a lock-down institution similar to jail. I was under the impression it was a normal boarding school where you could still go off campus while not in class, the brochure had many listed activities that sounded like it would make my time there bearable. To my surprise when I got there those things did not exist." - A.E., Casa by the Sea
"I was escorted there in the middle of the night. I cannot describe how powerless and terrified I became when I realized a lot of these girls had been there for over a year and still had not earned many privileges. I felt like a prisoner who was put in jail for a crime that she didn’t commit. To call it a “school” is a joke- there were no teachers and it was independent study." - L.W., Cross Creek Manor
"I actually saw what was going on in R&R my first day and wanted to call the police. I actually bucked up and demanded that I use the phone. I wanted to call my parents and the police to let them know what was going on." - Anon, Casa by the Sea
"Oh I loved it I was stripped naked the first 5 seconds I was there in front of a bunch of people I didn’t know and threatened with extreme violence in 7 seconds." - D.G., Casa by the Sea & Ivy Ridge
"Well I cried every night. I hated being controlled I wanted my mom to come rescue me. I felt like I was being mentally attacked and helpless." - C.L., Casa by the Sea
"When I realized what kind of school it was, I thought I had made a big mistake. I thought I had left to attend a school to finish my education, not to be reformed. I wrote to my mother a few times stating the school was not as it seems, and I had been sent to worksheet for those comments. During group, I always stated that I was only there to finish school, and then get out." - A.T., Casa by the Sea
"When I arrived to Casa I remember not really grasping the fact of what my parents had sent me to. But when I finally understood that there was no turning back until either i graduated or got pulled infuriated me... I didn't understand why my parents had taken such drastic measure to understand how to help. I felt like my parents easiest way of “taking care of the problem” was sending it away, and expecting to get a totally “new” reformed child." - N.R., Casa by the Sea
"I had no idea I was going to a program in the first place. My parents told me we were going on a vacation in Mexico for the weekend. My sister was woken up in the middle of the night and taken to her program in Utah. I was the oldest and kinda figured that it wouldn't happen to me. Especially since I was 6 months away from being 18 when we went on our "vacation". Once there, I already knew it wasn't voluntary. I flipped out and spent the next 3 hours in R&R." - G.A., Casa by the Sea
"I was surprised. I came to the school in a daze, escorted by two guys. The night before I was out partying, and by the time I recovered from drinking, smoking, and snorting, I was already in a car getting to the border. I don’t really remember the flight to San Diego or getting into a car at the airport. But by the time I realized this was a boarding school type of environment, I was just in shock. I thought the whole time at home, I wasn’t that bad of a kid. I was just a pot head that liked to party." - J.K., Casa by the Sea
