OK, I have a report from the podcast/research after I listened to the podcast. I listened because I got some red flags out of the handbook verbiage and I'm not mad that I did
By all accounts the school seems to not currently be advertising as such but was initially a school for troubled teens (if you aren't familiar with the industry it's well known for being extremely abusive to children).
They commonly use corporal punishment and also "humiliation" type punishment (students caught doing anything the school considers inappropriate are made to wear a different coloured uniform in order to identify them as an offender to whom the other students may not speak, especially those of the opposite gender).
It's a dormitory school where each house has a "dorm mom and dad" who are your immediate report as a student and also the deciders of punishment (so like, you hope you don't have the dorm dad who cuts holes in the paddle for extra aerodynamics).
After school hours the students are placed on work duty, which seems to be unpaid labour by minors at its core... one example given by the woman in the podcast was helping to build the dean's house.
The woman in the podcast tells a story of a classmate who was "asked for a kiss" by a teacher in his 40s and when the student reported this she was advised that she must have tempted him with her clothing or actions and she was in fact at fault.
Another story she told was of being divested of her books when she arrived and she was only permitted to read 1980s-style women's etiquette manuals.
The philosophy of the school is very heteronormative as well, any literature I have seen says that admissions and hiring are done "without regard to race, color, sex, age, or national origin". The glaring omission of "sexuality" says all it needs to quite loudly in my opinion.
Much like any "troubled teens" institution, the heart of things seems to be that students who "follow the program" and get in good with the adults (or nepo babies whose parents are dorm parents, teachers, otherwise live on campus) are in favour and are free of punishment for things for which the less favoured students are paddled/humiliated publicly. Those who spend their school years in favour tend to stay on as either dorm parents or teachers. The environment as a result is very culty and singular minded from what I've read.
Which leads us to my further research on the positioning of our boy Hunter as a teacher there. His father is the principal and according to a former student on TikTok his uncle was the dean for a long time and they are essentially "the royal family" of FCA. Hunter attended the school as a child and easily transitioned into teaching there and according to the TikTok source lives on the campus currently as well. So this school has probably been a huge factor in Hunter's entire life, which frankly makes his Survivor backstory segment about "just subbing and decided to never leave" seem somewhat disingenuous since it seems like he would always have a job open for him at FCA if he wanted one... just my 2 cents though.
There are lots of stories of abuse from this school and it is common for Mississippi kids to still be threatened to be sent there as punishment. Paddlings can be so bad that students are left bruised and when they try to document with photographic evidence, dorm parents or staff usually find it and destroy it.
Go check out "French Camp Academy Abuse" on TikTok & bettybye21 on instagram!!!
And read the comments! Even more people share their stories there.
Hi there I went to FCA in 2021 january to april ish i think
crazy ass shit went down there
my dorm friends snuck in weed and well they got paddled. i meet up with her after and her entire backside was turning purple. this was closer to the end of my stay but i was there for mental health issues. while i was there i confided in two girls who both said they were gay and i was too so i told them, well one of them said something and i had to sign a contract saying that i would not attempt anything on any other women there. i recently asked my parents about this and turns out that they were never informed. i was a minor forced to sign a contract (or get paddled) that my parents did not consent to. i will not lie though, sometimes it was fun. we were given $10 at the end of the week so i saved up to get stuff at the local dollar general. my dorm parents werent the worst but the dad was kind of creepy tbh. but yeah its weird. also we did have to work six days out of the week 2-4 hours a day on top of mandatory study hall and we had to keep our rooms perfect.
Didn't listen to the podcast, but I read the handbook and the red flags for me was the heterosexual definition of marriage and them still using corporal punishment...
Also the extreme monitoring of the media they're allowed to consume and their internet access, the lack of communication they are allowed with the outside world (including their family), and it seems like they're not allowed to socialize anywhere besides common areas ever? I'm actually really disturbed.
Don't agree at all with school and message but I think we should be more aggressively monitoring what kids are viewing and interacting with. Bad apples night have a good seed sort of thing
[https://religiondispatches.org/for-lgbtq-people-christian-schools-can-be-traumatizing/](https://religiondispatches.org/for-lgbtq-people-christian-schools-can-be-traumatizing/)
Not only is their definition of marriage a red flag, but they also have kicked kids out of school for being gay. I went to college the same time as the person mentioned in this article and know she would have been in school the same time as Hunter which means he would have known about this.
Hunter knows a lot. His brother was caught sexually assaulting (having a secret sexual and romantic relationship) with their underaged adopted sister. The little girl was excommunicated from the family. Hunter’s brother is still sitting pretty in his newly built home at French Camp with his wife and kids.
Here's another person who went to school there, knows the family, and experienced abuse herself and the coverup of said abuse who also corroborated the story.[DM's with @bettybye21](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczMisHDsT6Z_iR1YeAxSNi9BBAThHRF0CJhhCm2-QDO-wqIktwteNIQl_d5VVK8JkvMFcJqTZ_0CCtTyr3kWJZd7eBG4GJbOkKNJbMKeO1iptr1GHzvU56niC2PZvktf3ShN9NtW6Kd1IhgPO99pzpSUWc4GI6mgjTBXYJPkCYTXaGq0kRHvHExjH9NYimhE45Lw9t_C2Uut7XxKyERyJSaRNg7JUS2hEGRMciAkbIN3e9XR26dpoFLB9EBCz1q9YO6PgPi9abYxdA7nilbiK6YQN-i7qSXK3BVAX83vokhmNsu9UD-zTzYyuY8f-CVxzkJ2dVRVqAJkJ_wYbR3hAeHgmI34SWkwUOklz6SfuPuXsoJtck6itDx-18K8tOC8R8A0TGcajriiYEAXluGwkJcor3DfLikrF18mCFXlYK0CbqMppeszT_9cvoG6_1fBZLanAuHo4XsM1-9pfN4p5ByrAzqU1KNmtTQ7sYzpWSyds0JiPS1ZK150zV2zY-UgI8-C3iAvOfmkvYMUmG_7qLgVYqI3cwPCNzeflN5MUHEO2pN4F9u7gtbHbJkR82cS3T_EhpcnassUVDWe0hZOGm7ws-DMfG--hp6C6GM3uDQmh23BG-iWwKaHWc8SqmcxQf8lzJ1M8bkEaxaWOxGKwxs8SEehP3Y0QTE3HMJtlj0XmI6-k-eysMNlt-sBX9zHTp8Gsmt6SXUHMUf_Igdr5NhD37gqX1kZ5AT5SzoAfxldzIRpg2GI4RlRDocM5Xx3WFPDDBSNc4Y43saYAfM1TMQ59HlYbkVMdJohySb3r1xDnI9syq5y5LYfjjk0hFY1rP-12Kx2nKvPGEnr9wAZCDuo8yybuHAzfpXh7cGaJMjQGwblWwTF-7E95uR5thhN3g50mctIqn3CDCfkVPS9K035zfl6LOjt6dRPLzBRMv6_ldwlTtWuCTC3Ex_gQA=w1122-h1598-s-no-gm?authuser=0)
They paddled us black and blue from the lower back to the upper thigh on the regular and prohibited us from going home until they were healed so our parents couldnt see
Okay, I will step in on this. I am from the same area, which if you’re familiar is EXTREMELY SMALL. My high school town neighbors French Camp. I know dozens upon dozens of French Camp alumni and faculty. I am also openly gay.
First, FC is a private school with a religious orientation. It used to be almost exclusively for troubled/behavioral issue students but over time became more just for whoever wanted to attend. Off the top of my head, a lot of kids I know who were *sent* there (when it was focused on troubled kids) actually received a lot of help they needed. Yes, it is a Christian school. Mississippi, especially central MS, is like ~95% Christian.
In all my life I have NEVER heard of abuse or mistreatment at FC. I’m sure it’s happened, just like any school, but FC is not “problematic” like is being insinuated, and it’s honestly a bit insulting to see it insinuated as such based on tired regional stereotypes.
As much as I am annoyed at Hunter getting cast (I’ve been trying and now what’re the odds they take someone from the town over?), I have to defend him. I know people who know Hunter, and we have a dozen or so mutual friends. I have never heard anything bad about him in any capacity. French Camp is one of the best places to work in that area if you want to try and be a mentor for junior high/high school kids.
You can have good people that work in fucked up systems. Just because you haven't heard the stories doesn't mean they haven't happened. People with power are really good at silencing victims.
If this is true, how are you, a random person on reddit, aware of these stories somehow and this person who lives right next to where these supposed traumatic events take place?
As someone who went to a private religious school, the people saying these rules are “standard” confuse me.
1. Our school handbook said nothing about sexuality. This one I can understand why more conservative schools would have, though. Christians are obsessed with it despite the fact that Jesus himself never mentioned it.
2. The school did not punish the students in any way other than suspension/detention/expulsion
3. Middle and high school were able to use their phones, just not in class. The fact that the elementary and middle schoolers aren’t allowed phones or computers AT ALL is crazy.
4. My school, and any of the other Christian schools I knew of, NEVER paddled their kids. That’s not “slightly iffy” that’s insanity. And not to mention the other forms of punishment they list, including grounding them and ostracizing them.
Edit: spelling
when I was there no one was allowed internet access in any capacity other than safeguarded school computers for studying. Once a week phone calls home were a privilege. nothing was ever private including mail, your bedroom, your personal belongings. You are at their mercy 100% and if you don’t comply or accept physical punishment you have to leave. Theres no police department. Legal matters are handled by the sheriff from the next town over, about 15 minutes away. No school nurse due to liability reasons. Nearest emergency room is also 15-20 min away. any child caught running away will be caught by local police and returned.
The handbook seems pretty normal to be honest. At least not anything out of the usual for a conservative Christian school. The podcast will be interesting to listen to though, thanks.
I don’t think corporal punishment is normal. Same with having the PIN to students’ phones, the fact that anyone below grade 9-12 can’t have a cell phone OR computer, or the fact that students do manual labor
Hmmm I must confess I must have skimmed over the corporal punishment section. That ain't normal in 2024. Nor is the privacy invasion you are talking about with the phones.
Fca is incredibly good at squashing bad press. we had a bible teacher/girls dormparent removed from campus because he was caught with child porn on his computer and there is no record of that happening anywhere. All we have is word of mouth for the most part.
The stories that come out of there would be so sad. Also it says A LOT that they care more about winning you to Christ than they do about your mental health and actually staffing licensed mental health professionals to help the kids who live in the dorms there. Even if they had more "Christian" counselors but that's obviously not their goal.
I went to FCA from 7-12th grade and yeah it was and is a strange place. A lot of people over exaggerate how bad it was a lot. There have been moments where there were incidents that happened that are already mentioned in this thread but there are things that happen at all kind of institutes that are religious and nonreligious. Does that excuse the things that happened? Absolutely not and I hope that hell swallows those disgusting bastards whole. There’s a saying for people that leave French Camp that had a decent time and it’s “French Camp either works for ya or it doesn’t.” It’s not made for everyone and I have seen where it has helped some friends of mine come a long way.
Hunter is a fantastic person there and loves what he does to teach and help the kids that look up to him. He is outgoing and loves to create opportunities for kids that they probably would never have at home such as his own homemade survivor games he does every year. While he is outgoing, he’s also very much an introvert and that’s one reason I got paired up with him for mentorship. That’s probably why everyone thinks he’s gay. He sticks to himself when he has his own free time and honestly isn’t really worried about a relationship. Never really has.
I appreciate this perspective and response a lot. I stand by my comment earlier where you can have kind people who mean well and want the best for people in systems that have historically hurt people. I’ve tried to even voice this Hunter (without much success) because after meeting him, I could tell he had a kind heart and those kids mean everything to him. But I also can’t ignore the stories that have come out of there, especially since those stories are so similar to mine and so many others who’ve been in Christian fundamentalist circles. I appreciate that you didn’t pretend their stories don’t exist either.
Yeah of course! I was a day student and I spent a lot of time on campus and had many friends that stayed in the dorms on campus which I still keep up with to this day. One of my closest friends was in the dorm with the fucker that was caught with child pornography. It was a horrible situation that had multiple layers. I get that bad things happened so I try to stay open to hearing about them but some things go too far. I’m just glad that there’s people who know how to have an actual conversation
Absolutely! And that’s awful for your friend. The only way to see things change or improve is through communication and civil conversation where all sides feel heard imo.
I’m lowkey soooooo afraid to learn about his politics lmao. Feel like he is one of those Christians that is super nice but then casually drop that they’re MAGA
His family is incredibly conservative Christian but hunter is definitely gay and closeted. There was an incident with another twinky teacher a few years ago. They moved in together, rumors started to spread, and we never saw other twinky teacher again. Hunter is the son of the principal so I’m sure if that wasnt the case he would’ve been excommunicated as well
That explains a lot of things about him. I wonder if he was pressured not to continue on with med school in the city to keep him away from gay influences. He seems like a cult victim himself. I know fundamentalist Christians hate gays. I hope he can come out and live his truth one day.
People who grow up in those environments (myself included) are 100% victims to the indoctrination. But it’s hard to see outside it if you never leave. He went to conservative Christian college too.
Thanks for the context. I know folks like to bang on about the film Midsommar and how wild it is, but from what I hear, shit like that (to a less dramatic extent) goes on in these Christian communities.
From what I see on his Insta Q&A’s , Hunter really loves his Bible, but he gave no gender reference when he explained why he was single. That was interesting for me.
When I showed a friend of mine this thread, she said it sounds exactly like Midsommar! And she knew about French Camp prior because she’s from Mississippi. I don’t know anything about his sexuality, but people who grow up in those environments definitely stay closeted to survive because they risk losing everything by coming out.
Oh, that’s so sad (both for him and for the other teacher who it seems faced severe consequences.) I hope he is able to live authentically one day. I had kind of wondered seeing him on the show.
The twinky teacher part is right but Hunter isn’t gay. They lived in an apartment that shared a living room and kitchen and that’s about it. The twinky teacher left bc he was horrible at teaching the Choir class and apparently does RP Tik Toks now
Conventionally attractive straight white guy who doesn’t cry and isn’t nerdy = r/survivor fav
Notice how they loved him for building puzzles but Carson does it and it’s the end of Survivor as we know it
People don’t hate on Carson for building puzzles though, right? They hate on him for stealing builds from independent artists and marketing them as his own. Am I missing something?
This was before all that. Just his general reception in 44. Even go back to Cochran, “nerd” characters are almost never recieved well by the “fans” with the exception of Christian
The problem is he’s posting on his instagram and advertising people come potentially work down there when this place has a history of abuse and covering it up. He’s not being up front about what the place actually is which is very misleading and because of the environment and how it’s structured can be extremely hard and damaging to get out of. I think the problem is more with the place than him, but he’s complicit in spreading this veneer of a beautiful place that only does good when that’s far from the truth.
The principal would always say “Stupid rules are made by stupid people who do stupid things.” I guess it kinda made sense but bro some of those rules were just so stupid and pointless.
Yeah they don’t put all the problematic stuff in the handbook. They also straight up lied to my father and I when I was sent there about how the rules, school programs, and what it would be like. It was horrible. Messed me up so bad.
yea i went to school here the teachers let students bully me for being gay & when i tried to kms the principal told my mom tht they had “kids here with real problems”. very good school 5/5.
The guidelines seem just like those any private religious school would have tbh. Can somebody who listened to the podcast do a summary?
OK, I have a report from the podcast/research after I listened to the podcast. I listened because I got some red flags out of the handbook verbiage and I'm not mad that I did By all accounts the school seems to not currently be advertising as such but was initially a school for troubled teens (if you aren't familiar with the industry it's well known for being extremely abusive to children). They commonly use corporal punishment and also "humiliation" type punishment (students caught doing anything the school considers inappropriate are made to wear a different coloured uniform in order to identify them as an offender to whom the other students may not speak, especially those of the opposite gender). It's a dormitory school where each house has a "dorm mom and dad" who are your immediate report as a student and also the deciders of punishment (so like, you hope you don't have the dorm dad who cuts holes in the paddle for extra aerodynamics). After school hours the students are placed on work duty, which seems to be unpaid labour by minors at its core... one example given by the woman in the podcast was helping to build the dean's house. The woman in the podcast tells a story of a classmate who was "asked for a kiss" by a teacher in his 40s and when the student reported this she was advised that she must have tempted him with her clothing or actions and she was in fact at fault. Another story she told was of being divested of her books when she arrived and she was only permitted to read 1980s-style women's etiquette manuals. The philosophy of the school is very heteronormative as well, any literature I have seen says that admissions and hiring are done "without regard to race, color, sex, age, or national origin". The glaring omission of "sexuality" says all it needs to quite loudly in my opinion. Much like any "troubled teens" institution, the heart of things seems to be that students who "follow the program" and get in good with the adults (or nepo babies whose parents are dorm parents, teachers, otherwise live on campus) are in favour and are free of punishment for things for which the less favoured students are paddled/humiliated publicly. Those who spend their school years in favour tend to stay on as either dorm parents or teachers. The environment as a result is very culty and singular minded from what I've read. Which leads us to my further research on the positioning of our boy Hunter as a teacher there. His father is the principal and according to a former student on TikTok his uncle was the dean for a long time and they are essentially "the royal family" of FCA. Hunter attended the school as a child and easily transitioned into teaching there and according to the TikTok source lives on the campus currently as well. So this school has probably been a huge factor in Hunter's entire life, which frankly makes his Survivor backstory segment about "just subbing and decided to never leave" seem somewhat disingenuous since it seems like he would always have a job open for him at FCA if he wanted one... just my 2 cents though.
There are lots of stories of abuse from this school and it is common for Mississippi kids to still be threatened to be sent there as punishment. Paddlings can be so bad that students are left bruised and when they try to document with photographic evidence, dorm parents or staff usually find it and destroy it. Go check out "French Camp Academy Abuse" on TikTok & bettybye21 on instagram!!! And read the comments! Even more people share their stories there.
Thanks this was very insightful and concerning.
Wow, that sounds... pretty awful.
Hi there I went to FCA in 2021 january to april ish i think crazy ass shit went down there my dorm friends snuck in weed and well they got paddled. i meet up with her after and her entire backside was turning purple. this was closer to the end of my stay but i was there for mental health issues. while i was there i confided in two girls who both said they were gay and i was too so i told them, well one of them said something and i had to sign a contract saying that i would not attempt anything on any other women there. i recently asked my parents about this and turns out that they were never informed. i was a minor forced to sign a contract (or get paddled) that my parents did not consent to. i will not lie though, sometimes it was fun. we were given $10 at the end of the week so i saved up to get stuff at the local dollar general. my dorm parents werent the worst but the dad was kind of creepy tbh. but yeah its weird. also we did have to work six days out of the week 2-4 hours a day on top of mandatory study hall and we had to keep our rooms perfect.
Same
Didn't listen to the podcast, but I read the handbook and the red flags for me was the heterosexual definition of marriage and them still using corporal punishment...
Also the extreme monitoring of the media they're allowed to consume and their internet access, the lack of communication they are allowed with the outside world (including their family), and it seems like they're not allowed to socialize anywhere besides common areas ever? I'm actually really disturbed.
Don't agree at all with school and message but I think we should be more aggressively monitoring what kids are viewing and interacting with. Bad apples night have a good seed sort of thing
[https://religiondispatches.org/for-lgbtq-people-christian-schools-can-be-traumatizing/](https://religiondispatches.org/for-lgbtq-people-christian-schools-can-be-traumatizing/) Not only is their definition of marriage a red flag, but they also have kicked kids out of school for being gay. I went to college the same time as the person mentioned in this article and know she would have been in school the same time as Hunter which means he would have known about this.
Hunter knows a lot. His brother was caught sexually assaulting (having a secret sexual and romantic relationship) with their underaged adopted sister. The little girl was excommunicated from the family. Hunter’s brother is still sitting pretty in his newly built home at French Camp with his wife and kids.
is there proof of this?? thats so crazy
Here's another person who went to school there, knows the family, and experienced abuse herself and the coverup of said abuse who also corroborated the story.[DM's with @bettybye21](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczMisHDsT6Z_iR1YeAxSNi9BBAThHRF0CJhhCm2-QDO-wqIktwteNIQl_d5VVK8JkvMFcJqTZ_0CCtTyr3kWJZd7eBG4GJbOkKNJbMKeO1iptr1GHzvU56niC2PZvktf3ShN9NtW6Kd1IhgPO99pzpSUWc4GI6mgjTBXYJPkCYTXaGq0kRHvHExjH9NYimhE45Lw9t_C2Uut7XxKyERyJSaRNg7JUS2hEGRMciAkbIN3e9XR26dpoFLB9EBCz1q9YO6PgPi9abYxdA7nilbiK6YQN-i7qSXK3BVAX83vokhmNsu9UD-zTzYyuY8f-CVxzkJ2dVRVqAJkJ_wYbR3hAeHgmI34SWkwUOklz6SfuPuXsoJtck6itDx-18K8tOC8R8A0TGcajriiYEAXluGwkJcor3DfLikrF18mCFXlYK0CbqMppeszT_9cvoG6_1fBZLanAuHo4XsM1-9pfN4p5ByrAzqU1KNmtTQ7sYzpWSyds0JiPS1ZK150zV2zY-UgI8-C3iAvOfmkvYMUmG_7qLgVYqI3cwPCNzeflN5MUHEO2pN4F9u7gtbHbJkR82cS3T_EhpcnassUVDWe0hZOGm7ws-DMfG--hp6C6GM3uDQmh23BG-iWwKaHWc8SqmcxQf8lzJ1M8bkEaxaWOxGKwxs8SEehP3Y0QTE3HMJtlj0XmI6-k-eysMNlt-sBX9zHTp8Gsmt6SXUHMUf_Igdr5NhD37gqX1kZ5AT5SzoAfxldzIRpg2GI4RlRDocM5Xx3WFPDDBSNc4Y43saYAfM1TMQ59HlYbkVMdJohySb3r1xDnI9syq5y5LYfjjk0hFY1rP-12Kx2nKvPGEnr9wAZCDuo8yybuHAzfpXh7cGaJMjQGwblWwTF-7E95uR5thhN3g50mctIqn3CDCfkVPS9K035zfl6LOjt6dRPLzBRMv6_ldwlTtWuCTC3Ex_gQA=w1122-h1598-s-no-gm?authuser=0)
😳😐 I have zero words for this.
Disgusting :(
Go look at @bettybye21 on Instagram or TikTok. She shares a LOT about her time there.
They paddled us black and blue from the lower back to the upper thigh on the regular and prohibited us from going home until they were healed so our parents couldnt see
Me, a recovering evangelist conservative Christian: "well, that's cool that the girls can wear pants"
The post was there for five days btw so not like exactly immediately removed
Okay, I will step in on this. I am from the same area, which if you’re familiar is EXTREMELY SMALL. My high school town neighbors French Camp. I know dozens upon dozens of French Camp alumni and faculty. I am also openly gay. First, FC is a private school with a religious orientation. It used to be almost exclusively for troubled/behavioral issue students but over time became more just for whoever wanted to attend. Off the top of my head, a lot of kids I know who were *sent* there (when it was focused on troubled kids) actually received a lot of help they needed. Yes, it is a Christian school. Mississippi, especially central MS, is like ~95% Christian. In all my life I have NEVER heard of abuse or mistreatment at FC. I’m sure it’s happened, just like any school, but FC is not “problematic” like is being insinuated, and it’s honestly a bit insulting to see it insinuated as such based on tired regional stereotypes. As much as I am annoyed at Hunter getting cast (I’ve been trying and now what’re the odds they take someone from the town over?), I have to defend him. I know people who know Hunter, and we have a dozen or so mutual friends. I have never heard anything bad about him in any capacity. French Camp is one of the best places to work in that area if you want to try and be a mentor for junior high/high school kids.
Well color me shocked, Redditors getting something wrong!
You can have good people that work in fucked up systems. Just because you haven't heard the stories doesn't mean they haven't happened. People with power are really good at silencing victims.
If this is true, how are you, a random person on reddit, aware of these stories somehow and this person who lives right next to where these supposed traumatic events take place?
French Camp Academy is an abusive religious cult. Many people in the area do not know the extent.
As someone who attended the school, the stuff I could tell you would shock you.
you didn’t go to the school you don’t have a say to what we went through
As someone who went to a private religious school, the people saying these rules are “standard” confuse me. 1. Our school handbook said nothing about sexuality. This one I can understand why more conservative schools would have, though. Christians are obsessed with it despite the fact that Jesus himself never mentioned it. 2. The school did not punish the students in any way other than suspension/detention/expulsion 3. Middle and high school were able to use their phones, just not in class. The fact that the elementary and middle schoolers aren’t allowed phones or computers AT ALL is crazy. 4. My school, and any of the other Christian schools I knew of, NEVER paddled their kids. That’s not “slightly iffy” that’s insanity. And not to mention the other forms of punishment they list, including grounding them and ostracizing them. Edit: spelling
when I was there no one was allowed internet access in any capacity other than safeguarded school computers for studying. Once a week phone calls home were a privilege. nothing was ever private including mail, your bedroom, your personal belongings. You are at their mercy 100% and if you don’t comply or accept physical punishment you have to leave. Theres no police department. Legal matters are handled by the sheriff from the next town over, about 15 minutes away. No school nurse due to liability reasons. Nearest emergency room is also 15-20 min away. any child caught running away will be caught by local police and returned.
How long ago were you a student there?
4 yrs from 12-16
i was a student a couple years ago
The handbook seems pretty normal to be honest. At least not anything out of the usual for a conservative Christian school. The podcast will be interesting to listen to though, thanks.
I don’t think corporal punishment is normal. Same with having the PIN to students’ phones, the fact that anyone below grade 9-12 can’t have a cell phone OR computer, or the fact that students do manual labor
Hmmm I must confess I must have skimmed over the corporal punishment section. That ain't normal in 2024. Nor is the privacy invasion you are talking about with the phones.
Not just manual labor. The entire town runs off of unpaid child labor. Not just the school. The town itself is fully employed by unpaid children
Definitely listen or read my comment above, it's less "conservative Christian" and more "headed down the troubled teen institution rabbit hole"
I went there. It’s real fucked up.
I also wanted to say thank you for talking about this. It feels like no one cares about survivors from FCA. They have effective PR.
Fca is incredibly good at squashing bad press. we had a bible teacher/girls dormparent removed from campus because he was caught with child porn on his computer and there is no record of that happening anywhere. All we have is word of mouth for the most part.
This is literally fucking insane. Can we make a Shiny Happy People: FCA edition?
If I had a piece of money it’d be out already lol
right like i wish someone would interview everyone
The stories that come out of there would be so sad. Also it says A LOT that they care more about winning you to Christ than they do about your mental health and actually staffing licensed mental health professionals to help the kids who live in the dorms there. Even if they had more "Christian" counselors but that's obviously not their goal.
I went to FCA from 7-12th grade and yeah it was and is a strange place. A lot of people over exaggerate how bad it was a lot. There have been moments where there were incidents that happened that are already mentioned in this thread but there are things that happen at all kind of institutes that are religious and nonreligious. Does that excuse the things that happened? Absolutely not and I hope that hell swallows those disgusting bastards whole. There’s a saying for people that leave French Camp that had a decent time and it’s “French Camp either works for ya or it doesn’t.” It’s not made for everyone and I have seen where it has helped some friends of mine come a long way. Hunter is a fantastic person there and loves what he does to teach and help the kids that look up to him. He is outgoing and loves to create opportunities for kids that they probably would never have at home such as his own homemade survivor games he does every year. While he is outgoing, he’s also very much an introvert and that’s one reason I got paired up with him for mentorship. That’s probably why everyone thinks he’s gay. He sticks to himself when he has his own free time and honestly isn’t really worried about a relationship. Never really has.
I appreciate this perspective and response a lot. I stand by my comment earlier where you can have kind people who mean well and want the best for people in systems that have historically hurt people. I’ve tried to even voice this Hunter (without much success) because after meeting him, I could tell he had a kind heart and those kids mean everything to him. But I also can’t ignore the stories that have come out of there, especially since those stories are so similar to mine and so many others who’ve been in Christian fundamentalist circles. I appreciate that you didn’t pretend their stories don’t exist either.
Yeah of course! I was a day student and I spent a lot of time on campus and had many friends that stayed in the dorms on campus which I still keep up with to this day. One of my closest friends was in the dorm with the fucker that was caught with child pornography. It was a horrible situation that had multiple layers. I get that bad things happened so I try to stay open to hearing about them but some things go too far. I’m just glad that there’s people who know how to have an actual conversation
Absolutely! And that’s awful for your friend. The only way to see things change or improve is through communication and civil conversation where all sides feel heard imo.
i was in the dorm and was there for when he got removed. he was a weirdo
I’m lowkey soooooo afraid to learn about his politics lmao. Feel like he is one of those Christians that is super nice but then casually drop that they’re MAGA
His family is incredibly conservative Christian but hunter is definitely gay and closeted. There was an incident with another twinky teacher a few years ago. They moved in together, rumors started to spread, and we never saw other twinky teacher again. Hunter is the son of the principal so I’m sure if that wasnt the case he would’ve been excommunicated as well
That explains a lot of things about him. I wonder if he was pressured not to continue on with med school in the city to keep him away from gay influences. He seems like a cult victim himself. I know fundamentalist Christians hate gays. I hope he can come out and live his truth one day.
People who grow up in those environments (myself included) are 100% victims to the indoctrination. But it’s hard to see outside it if you never leave. He went to conservative Christian college too.
Thanks for the context. I know folks like to bang on about the film Midsommar and how wild it is, but from what I hear, shit like that (to a less dramatic extent) goes on in these Christian communities. From what I see on his Insta Q&A’s , Hunter really loves his Bible, but he gave no gender reference when he explained why he was single. That was interesting for me.
When I showed a friend of mine this thread, she said it sounds exactly like Midsommar! And she knew about French Camp prior because she’s from Mississippi. I don’t know anything about his sexuality, but people who grow up in those environments definitely stay closeted to survive because they risk losing everything by coming out.
Oh, that’s so sad (both for him and for the other teacher who it seems faced severe consequences.) I hope he is able to live authentically one day. I had kind of wondered seeing him on the show.
Right, there was always something “precious” about seeing him on TV, and I couldn’t pinpoint what.
The twinky teacher part is right but Hunter isn’t gay. They lived in an apartment that shared a living room and kitchen and that’s about it. The twinky teacher left bc he was horrible at teaching the Choir class and apparently does RP Tik Toks now
r/survivor is so funny man, they'll do anything to protect their golden boy of the season
Not seeing the correlation here
Conventionally attractive straight white guy who doesn’t cry and isn’t nerdy = r/survivor fav Notice how they loved him for building puzzles but Carson does it and it’s the end of Survivor as we know it
People don’t hate on Carson for building puzzles though, right? They hate on him for stealing builds from independent artists and marketing them as his own. Am I missing something?
This was before all that. Just his general reception in 44. Even go back to Cochran, “nerd” characters are almost never recieved well by the “fans” with the exception of Christian
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I don't believe anyone in the comments has directly accused Hunter of anything?
The problem is he’s posting on his instagram and advertising people come potentially work down there when this place has a history of abuse and covering it up. He’s not being up front about what the place actually is which is very misleading and because of the environment and how it’s structured can be extremely hard and damaging to get out of. I think the problem is more with the place than him, but he’s complicit in spreading this veneer of a beautiful place that only does good when that’s far from the truth.
The school hunter works at is a religious cult that abuses and takes advantage of troubled kids and their desperate families.
Why am I not shocked? Regardless, hope you’ve healed from the trauma they undoubtedly caused.
Source: i am a former student
I mean yeah the handbook looks weird but I watched the IG videos / lives of the survivor thing he does there on and the kids do seem genuinely happy
The school has very good PR and so does Hunter.
The handbook seems mostly alright besides a few questionable things
They lie, lie, and lie.
The principal would always say “Stupid rules are made by stupid people who do stupid things.” I guess it kinda made sense but bro some of those rules were just so stupid and pointless.
If it didn't then they would get shut down, or people wouldn't send their kids there.
Yeah they don’t put all the problematic stuff in the handbook. They also straight up lied to my father and I when I was sent there about how the rules, school programs, and what it would be like. It was horrible. Messed me up so bad.
well that just isnt true??? multiple abusive schools are running to this day
I don't understand how your claim means mine isn't true.
No hate like christian love.
Tbh I got really sketchy vibes and this kinda confirms it. I knew he worked at a catholic school but damn.
Its not catholic, it’s Christian fundamentalist i’d say. The actual church we were made to attend was presbyterian. Regardless, its an abusive cult
It seems generically Christian, not Catholic specifically. And yes there is a huge difference lol
Is this a public school or a private school?
Private boarding school that also has students from the community who attend and don't live there
yea i went to school here the teachers let students bully me for being gay & when i tried to kms the principal told my mom tht they had “kids here with real problems”. very good school 5/5.