KEYS Academy: Thanksgiving Message

Dear KEYS Families, Students, and Community Partners,

It is with great excitement and pride that I welcome you to another inspiring school year at K.E.Y.S. Academy Recovery High School — a place where hope, healing, and education come together.

At KEYS, we believe every student deserves a safe, supportive, and empowering environment to learn, grow, and rediscover their potential. Our program is designed for high school students who are not only working toward earning their diploma but are also committed to their sobriety, wellness, and mental health recovery.

Through our comprehensive and individualized programming, students receive academic instruction tailored to their unique needs while engaging in meaningful wellness and recovery opportunities. We are proud to offer:

• 🥊 Boxing and fitness to build discipline, confidence, and resilience
  
  

• 🎶 Music and guitar lessons to foster creativity and self-expression
  
  

• 🍳 Cooking and life-skills workshops for independence and healthy living
  
  

• 🎨 Art therapy and mindfulness activities to promote reflection and healing
  
  

• 🗣️ NA/AA guest speakers who share powerful stories of hope and perseverance
  
  

• 🎓 College and career readiness to prepare students for their next chapter
  
  

• 🌿 Individual and group counseling to support emotional growth and balance
  
  

• 🚐 Educational trips and community service opportunities that inspire learning beyond the classroom
  
  

• 💉 Weekly toxicology testing to ensure accountability and celebrate progress
  
  

At KEYS, recovery and education go hand in hand. Every student’s journey is unique, and our mission is to walk beside them — celebrating victories, overcoming challenges, and empowering them to achieve both academic success and lifelong wellness.

We are truly blessed to have amazing partnerships that help us fulfill this mission. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to our partners at the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), the Monmouth County Division of Behavioral Health, Preferred Behavioral Health/NJ4S, New Hope Integrated Behavioral Health Center, Brookdale Community College, JBJ Soul Kitchen, The Butcher’s Block, and many other incredible providers throughout the county.

We are also deeply grateful to our sending school districts for their ongoing support, trust, and student referrals. Your collaboration allows us to make a meaningful difference in the lives of students and families across Monmouth County and beyond.

Together — with our families, districts, and community allies — we are building bridges of support, opportunity, and recovery for our youth. Thank you for believing in our mission and being part of this incredible journey.

Here in the Humanities Class, students navigate the messy business of being a human being through literature, writing, history, and community. Our Creative Writing class uses a fiction workshop approach to explore a variety of wellness topics including roots and belonging, self-awareness, and resilience. Students created two-voice poems and blackout poems. They studied the wisdom of Anne Lamott as they considered their own personal truths and wrote letters to fear (and even responded back). English class presented the opportunity to read Lorraine Hansberry’s iconic play A Raisin in the Sun. With an emphasis on historical context and character development, students worked to read and understand the play. Developing strong position defenses required students to flex their confidence as critical readers and writers. Their voice is their power, and they are learning how to find and share that. Finally, the World Cultures and US History I & II class is a busy time of project-based inquiry. From the Middle Ages in Europe to the Renaissance and Reformation to early American Colonization up to the global conflict of WWI, these students are using a variety of resources, videos, primary source documents, and texts to learn about the past in an attempt to shape a brighter future. If it sounds busy in Humanities that’s because it is! There’s so much to explore, and we’re only just getting started.