GreenRiver Academy

When you first enter the sensory room at the newly established GreenRiver Academy in White Sulphur Springs, it’s as if you have stepped into the future of early education. Across the floor of the room a digital wonderland of play balls sit ready to be disturbed by the softest of touch. Savanna Keesee and Rebekah Lilly, the founders of the school, work with a young pre-school student while sitting on the floor. The young boy is mesmerized as he watches the balls bounce playfully out of his way at every touchpoint.

While this learning system works wonderful for things such as math facts, science, reading, and phonics, it’s also great for any child that needs a little extra motivation to move through their tasks.

“Just this morning, I did therapy with a little girl and she wanted to do the activities sitting in the leaves,” says Lilly. “So we were just sitting here and the leaves were bouncing all around us. She needed that extra stimulation to drive her focus on what we were working on. Some kids need just a little more active movement in order to retain information”

Keesee and Lilly are no strangers to the education game. Lilly has been a practicing Speech and Language Pathologist for 14 years, and worked in the Greenbrier County School system as a lead speech pathologist for a number of those years. Keesee, who is currently enrolled in Ball State University for a masters in Applied Behavior Analysis, had been a teacher for the county since 2012. Both women became fast friends and even share community projects such as Scout Camp, as well as vacation together.

Their educational collaboration came together over a shared student when Keesee was teaching second grade. Keesee knew her approaches just weren’t getting the student where they needed to be and so she sought out Lilly, who developed some social excercises to help the student function more.

“That’s when we started looking at this and asking ‘How can we do more? How can we work at this a little deeper?’” says Lilly. “And then this opportunity came about and “boom,” here we are!”

The duo created GreenRiver Academy because they found gaps in the school system that needed filled with scientifically-based strategies and methods. That doesn’t mean they are necessarily an alternative to public schooling. In fact, they operate under a collaboration with Greenbrier County Schools, which means they work with the county to develop a program that suits the child needs, flows with county curriculum and classroom structure, adheres to state and federal standards, and helps students transition into the public school system.

“What makes our program unique,” says Keesee, “is our method for providing therapeutic strategies in a team approach on a smaller scale. Not all of our students will need this intensive work, that’s just our area of specialization.”

“The thing to remember is that education is scientific based, just as much as therapy,” explains Lilly. “So when we realize those connections we can generalize our practices across all settings and other therapies. Think of all practices like a big cobweb, there are areas where we work on the same things and areas where we do not. By finding that common ground and merging all practices, we can provide a team approach to help our students, families, and county collaboratives.”

GreenRiver Academy’s space is vast and offers a number of areas for kids—romp-around areas with a climbing wall and puppet show “stage,” as well as more classroom-like settings where they can operate tutoring sessions and one-on-one instruction. The academy offers a team approach to the children’s educational needs, whether that a little math tutoring in the afternoon, or the half to full-day classes.

“Part of what we are doing is looking at education from a variety of ways—education, therapy, counseling, physical occupation, and more,” says Keesee. “How we get this child where they need to be is very individualized and that’s the key. It’s not just going backwards that helps you get there. Sometimes it’s going backwards and standing on your head.”

Lilly adds that in their collaboration with Greenbrier County Schools, their goal is to see where the student’s weaknesses are and then fill those gaps so that they are ready to go back in the public setting.

“And when they go back, we are all working together as a team to help the child,” she says. “Whether that means we're going into the classroom with the teacher—she's (Keesee) with the teacher, I'm with the therapist—and we're showing how this system works. We want the students to be successful as much as the public school system wants the students to be successful.”

“It is one of our goals to share our practices and our expertise with others systems,” says Keesee. “We have many other therapists and teachers that understand there is a wealth of need and not enough hands on deck. So as we share our practices, it is with the intent to educate others and work as a helping hand.”

For those interested in GreenRiver Academy, Lilly and Keesee note that the pricing for services varies based upon need. The business has worked very hard to provide a high-quality education at an affordable rate. This means if you qualify for MountianHeart, Birth to 3, Medicaid, have another major insurance, or county contract, then the cost of private pay could be waived or lowered.

To learn more about GreenRiver Academy visit their Facebook page.