Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Zakeem Singleton, one of about 100 Summit Academy residents from Philadelphia, takes a lunch tray from administrator Steve Sherer at the academy. Summit Academy is a reform school for teenage boys in Butler County that gives its students exposure to and opportunity for a new, different life. Click photo for larger image.

While getting ready for school each day at Summit Academy, LaMont Valentine can hardly believe how nice he looks wearing a dress coat and tie.

"I picture myself like this when I get older," said the 16-year-old senior. "I want to be a businessman."

A year ago, Mr. Valentine was on the streets of Philadelphia dealing drugs, running with the wrong crowd, always looking over his shoulder and trying to stay one step ahead of the police.

People who knew him then wouldn't recognize him now. Although he's doing time in juvenile detention, his jail uniform happens to be khaki pants, penny loafers, a tie, dress shirt and a blue blazer with the school crest emblazoned on the left breast pocket, resembling what is worn at some elite boarding schools.

Prep culture is the whole idea behind Summit Academy, a reform school for delinquent teenage boys located in the boondocks of Butler County, far from the temptations of urban street life and the bad influence of old friends who would steer them to a life of crime.

"We show them this is how you comport yourself," said Sam Costanzo, the school's chief executive officer and founder, known as Mr. C to the students and staff. "We tell them this is how you dress and cut your hair. And it becomes a habit."

Only boys ages 14 to 18 who have been sentenced to juvenile detention can attend Summit Academy, but no one is guaranteed admission even if he's been referred there by a judge.

Because it is a private high school, administrators can reject any kid they feel is unlikely to benefit from the experience, including those with a history of homicide, sex crimes, arson, mental illness or running away from another institution.

"If you run you're done. That's my motto," Mr. Costanzo said.

Unlike a traditional lockup facility or jail where bad behavior results in a longer sentence, an extended stay at Summit Academy is a privilege that comes with good behavior after they have been admitted. All 38 of June's graduates were accepted to a college or technical school. And every student who graduates from Summit receives a $2,000 scholarship.

The 270 students currently attending Summit Academy have committed all kinds of juvenile and adult criminal offenses, but the most common by far is drug dealing.

About 100 are from Philadelphia; about 40 are from Allegheny County, and the rest come from 50 or so counties spread over six states. Counties that refer boys to Summit Academy pay $90 a day to house each one for the length of his sentence.

"I think it's a good program," said Allegheny County Judge Kim Berkeley Clark. "We've used their program for as long as I've been on the bench, [seven years]. It provides a wide range of exposure for the kids and I think they can only benefit from that."

One of the things Summit Academy prides itself on is its food.

A typical breakfast includes pancakes, sausage patties, eggs and fresh fruit. Shrimp creole, chicken cordon bleu, pulled pork or crab cakes might be served for lunch, and dinner includes dishes like beef burgundy, Yankee pot roast or Mexican lasagna.

Three meals and a late night snack of assorted deli sandwiches are planned each day by a certified chef, Chris Graczk, a former juvenile delinquent who credits Mr. Costanzo with saving his life.

"When I was 16, I didn't have a lot of positive in my life. My family situation was bad," said Mr. Graczk, who is now 40 and has been the chef for 10 years. "I was involved in burglary. It wasn't until I got admitted to The Academy that I had something positive to grab onto."

Summit Academy, with an annual budget of $12 million, is part of The Academy System, which has been in existence for 30 years in Pittsburgh. The Butler County facility was founded in 1996 with 10 boys from Allegheny County.

Located on 125 acres of rolling hills in the rural community of Herman in Butler County, the imposing red brick Summit Academy building has at various times been used as a monastery, a vacation resort, band camp and police academy.

Summit Academy might be the first place where these young men have ever learned how to adjust a neck tie, speak proper English or been required to wear their trousers securely fastened at the waist.

Their education at Summit also includes some knowledge of visual and performing arts, which is reinforced with field trips to Pittsburgh, where students attend musicals and the symphony.

"I was forced to come here, but I'm OK with it now," said Andrew Scott, 17, a sophomore from Penn Hills. "I think everybody should take advantage of this. But some don't appreciate it as much."

John Payne, 19, of Philadelphia, will enroll at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in January to major in business and pre-law. He graduated from Summit Academy in June, but has been allowed to stay on campus until he enrolls in college.

"I talked to my judge and asked him not to let me go back to Philly," said Mr. Payne, a former drug dealer and user who came to Summit as an 11th-grader with an adult criminal record. "My family is there, but it's in my best interest to stay away because of all the violence.

"I look at myself in the mirror and think I'm a whole new person. I like myself in a suit. Here, I'm in classes with kids who want to make a change and they are college-minded too."

About 70 percent of the student body at Summit Academy is black, 20 percent is white and 10 percent is made up of other races and ethnic groups.

Every student is required to take 10 mathematics classes each week. The GED exam is offered each month. Fifty-six students have passed it so far this year, and some seniors who participate in the College Within a High School program leave Summit Academy with up to six college credits they earn from Butler County Community College.

"We tell them they must have a plan when they leave here," said Steve Sherer, the school director and head football coach at Summit Academy. "They must have some kind of employment or be going to trade school or college. We try to get them to put value on an education."

About 80 percent of students who enter Summit Academy successfully complete the program. They enter a reintegration program when they leave the facility, which requires them to work with a counselor back home who helps keep them on track.

Mr. Sherer and John McCloud, an administrator and the head wrestling coach, say one of the reasons for their high success rate is the athletic program. They use athletics at Summit to reinforce positive behavior.

Students compete in the Tri-County North Conference with school districts such as Mars, Union, Cornell and Riverside. The football program was 0-33 when it started seven years ago, but has come close to making the playoffs the past two years. The team finished this season with an overall 4-5 record.

"We were approaching the longest losing streak in high school football," Mr. Costanzo said. "Our objective is to build character and make gentlemen of these young men. But our concern was they'd be identified as losers.

"We compete in WPIAL, and we want our kids to feel we are at the same level as everyone else," Mr. Costanzo said. "They go on the basketball and football playing field with brand new sneakers."

New students arrive at Summit Academy year round, so that presents some challenges to the school culture.

Leave is determined by the courts. Some students don't get to go home for three months. But school administrators assess them after 60 days for a home pass. Most of them will leave for Christmas for five days. Thanksgiving, spring and summer breaks also are five days each.

In between those breaks they earn home passes Friday through Sunday.

"It breaks my heart I can't send every kid home for Christmas and Thanksgiving," Mr. Costanzo said.

He recalls one boy from Pittsburgh who was preparing to go home for the weekend who respectfully asked if it was alright if he took his Summit uniform home so he could wear it to church.

"He told me his grandmother had never seen him in a jacket and tie. He wanted to know if he could please take it home and make her proud," he said. "I just hugged him."