CAMDEN—The Devil's Pride motorcycle club has tender hearts when it comes to at-risk youth.

This past fall, the motorcycle club held a fundraising barbecue with the intent to donate the proceeds to a local cause.

They raised $4,000 and handed the check to Jed Schwalm, Executive Director of Atlantic Academy Inc., a special purpose private school in Camden, which serves nearly 30 Midcoast children and teens.

"We've reorganized the club this year with the goal of donating to at least one organization per year that benefits the people in our area," said Robert "Biker Bob" Sheehan, club president. Through a mutual colleague who provides transport for some Atlantic Academy students, he learned of the school and its purpose and brought the idea back to his club.

"We tried to come up with a way to be beneficial to those kids," he said. "We put on a big chicken barbecue event at the Oddfellows Club in Warren, and we had quite the turnout." 

The club name "Devil's Pride" means "positive self worth or cultural pride," explained Roland "Poet" Pease, the Sgt. at Arms for the club.  "For five years, we've been giving donations to a good cause and that's why we chose Atlantic Academy."

Atlantic Academy

The Atlantic Academy was founded in 2017 by Schwalm, a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst. It is located on Knowlton Street, in the old YMCA teen center. It operates like a regular school, Monday through Friday, and provides highly individualized, skills-based treatment and education to children with social, emotional, and behavioral deficits.

"Students whose needs are well beyond what public schools' capacity can provide for are referred to Atlantic Academy by special education directors, and public schools provide the tuition," said Schwalm.

"These kids are coming from the hardest backgrounds with ongoing trauma," he added. The school also serves the needs of students with autism.

The curriculum teaches the students skills that result in greater independence and inclusion, and a more enriched quality of life, according to the school's website.

"We have almost the same ratio of students to staff, and our goal is to meet their emotional and social needs and get them back into public schools," he said.

"When Bob called us, we didn't expect it since we only have enough funding for our students for day-to-day programming, so we're using their funds to give the students the same kind of experiences that public schools have the resources for," said Schwalm.

Atlantic Academy prioritizes experiential education in the outdoors, field trips, and social emotional programming, and these are the kinds of activities that the Devil's Pride donation are earmarked for.

For example, the Academy recently took all of the kids skiing at the Camden Snow Bowl.

"We try to get these kids out in nature as much as possible because it is so therapeutic," said Schwalm. "A lot of these students are coming from impoverished backgrounds, so some of the funds we receive outfit them with the kinds of equipment they need to be outside in a Maine winter, pants, gloves, all of it."

Occasionally, being outside skiing or ice skating for a day meets these kids' needs in a way that sitting eight hours in public school cannot. "We take them on activities that they can be embodied in, find success in," he said. "They get therapeutic benefits from moving around, getting exercise, combined with the emotional benefits in terms of regulation, finding confidence, and mastering a hard skill.

When the students come back from an outdoor activity like this, Schwalm said, "They are so proud. We see more regulated kids with more confidence."

For one Devil's Pride member, this donation was special. "I have custody of my grandson, age five, who is on the spectrum of autism, and donating to this cause is close to my heart," said Pease. "Our goal is to support our community in any way we can, supporting those in need."

"It always feels good to do a good thing," said Sheehan. 

To learn more about Atlantic Academy visit https://www.atbehavior.com/

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com