c u n n i n g h a m ACADEMY

For some, it is a dream to go to a private-boarding school. Anyone who’s anyone would most likely want to go to one. To live on their own without any parents on their backs, to fend for themselves, to live their lives without any responsibility.

Welcome to Cunningham Academy. An Academy free from parents, siblings, and just overall family life. Think of this place as your own private Neverland. The brochure says that Cunningham Academy is the most top rated school in the country, with its highly-urbanized campus, its advanced academic program, and its excellent programs in music and sports. The school only selects the best of the best as it is expected to do so by most parents who send their kids here. To go to Cunningham is more of a privilege than a punishment, as most kids are left here by their parents to learn and become better people, but what they don't know is that they are actually sending their kids to a kid's heaven. A place where they can run free and just be themselves.

Cunningham Academy is set on the outskirts of New York City. Although it is close to New York; Milton has a whole new feel to it. It's more of a suburb than a city, holding bright green grass and a wet, muggy feel to it. The Academy is situated on the hills of Milton, just a thirty minute bus ride to New York City. Every weekend, students are allowed out of the school campus and into the New York streets for some overall fun in the city of dreams. This is another advantage students have, as various New Yorkers eventually become their friends and what not.

But although the brochure makes the academy sound like such a theme park, there are a few down points to them. There are serious house rivalries in Cunningham. Housing students in Cunningham doesn't at all require perspiration. It all depends on how much money is in a student's pocket. The rich and the wealthy kids belong to the Adalardo and the Imogen houses. After all, Adalardo and Imogens define nobility. Most students housed in the wealthy houses are children to bankers, doctors, celebrities and those who have high paying jobs. Keegan and Aithne, on the other hand are mostly in Cunningham through scholarship or their parents are off their butt, working five jobs just to send them here. They may not live like the wealthier houses, but their comfortable the way they are. But imagine: two houses, each house holds roughly a hundred students, one side rich and the other poor, there is bound to be drama, whether it is fights, romances, or break ups.

I guess they were actually right when they said parents just don't understand. Cunningham is a place that defines your fate as an individual. Will the peer pressure finally break you? Will the money over bear you? Or will Cunningham Academy be your great escape.