When Hope Academy gathered our community at the 2025 Rise & Shine for Hope breakfast, we shared a short video that reflects something deep in our journey. It tells the story of Hope Academy’s enduring commitment to recovery-centered education—and our role in a national movement working alongside other recovery schools across the country to ensure students in recovery have access to schools designed for their success.
A School Built for Students—and a Model for the Field
Hope Academy opened in 2006 to give teens struggling with drugs and alcohol a place to continue their education while focusing on recovery. Today, Hope Academy is Indiana’s only recovery high school and one of just ten schools nationwide accredited by the Association of Recovery Schools.
Recovery high schools exist to address a critical gap. Nationally, nearly 80 percent of adolescents relapse after returning to their original high school following substance use disorder treatment. Schools like Hope Academy are designed to change that outcome by integrating rigorous academics with daily recovery support.
Voices From the National Recovery School Movement
The video brings together leaders who have helped shape the recovery high school movement and who have remained closely connected to Hope Academy’s work over time.
Roger Oser, former principal of William J. Ostiguy High School, the first accredited recovery high school in the country, reflects on Hope Academy’s role as an early model for the field. Over the years, Hope Academy has served as a blueprint for emerging schools, demonstrating how to build strong systems, support families, and sustain recovery-focused education.
Sasha Coles, former principal of Archway Academy, the largest recovery high school in the United States, speaks to Hope Academy’s collaborative spirit. From sharing best practices to emphasizing the importance of family engagement, Hope Academy has strengthened not only its own community, but the broader recovery school network.
From a research perspective, Dr. Andy Finch, Vanderbilt University researcher and co-founder of the Association of Recovery Schools, highlights Hope Academy’s significance in sustaining and advancing the model nationwide. In the film, Finch describes Hope Academy as “a jewel… one of the model schools for new recovery high schools nationwide.”
A Shared Commitment That Continues
For 20 years, Hope Academy has remained committed to students and families navigating recovery—while also contributing to a growing national effort to ensure recovery high schools are accessible, credible, and effective.
This work is rooted in shared learning, accountability, and collaboration across schools and communities. The video reflects that collective commitment and the belief that education must be designed to meet students where they are.
We invite you to watch the video and learn more about the national recovery high school movement and Hope Academy’s role within it.
Watch the video above to see how recovery-centered education is shaping possibilities for students across the country.