Located deep in the boondocks of Indiana, the Essenson campus
was founded by James Essenson, a computer multi-millionaire who pulled
out before the tech-bubble burst. He founded twin academies,
one for Engineering and one for the Arts. Being a private school,
it allows the administration of the academies to accept students from
wherever they please, though the majority of those who apply are from
within the United States.
Essenson designed his school so that each class would meet
once per week in three and a half hour spans. That way, a student
would only have two classes a day, one in the morning and one in the
afternoon. With a typical load of six classes four days a week,
this opens up two classtimes for day time studying. On Fridays,
students attend a day-long project session where they learn how to
apply their learned skills in structured settings. For the Engineering
Academy, projects include aerodynamics, propulsion, robotics, and so
forth. For the Arts Academy, projects include intensive literary
study, theatrical performance, writing sessions, and so forth. One
can see that by the weekend, students are very much ready for a break from
their work.
Of course, not everything at the Essenson Academies are based
around knowledge. Essenson was sure to build a state-of-the-art
physical facility to build the students' bodies as well as their minds.
While many students take advantage of the facilities, many choose
only to do the minimum twenty physical education sessions that are required.
Rules are notoriously vicious at the Essenson Academies. Despite
rumors, though, Essenson believed that his rules were fair and easily
followed. For example, students are only allowed their cars on
weekends, unless a parental arrangement is made. While most students
live without their cars for five days quite easily, some have terrible
problems with the rule. Another rule, the campus-wide 11:00 lights
out is sometimes followed, but the clever students often find ways to stay
up despite the rule.
Life at the Essenson campus has been far from normal since
its beginning. Gathering a large group of intelligent teenagers,
depriving them of sleep, and generally working them for all their worth
has a tendency for insanity. A "freak out" is a common experience
whenever a student's brain finally snaps. To add to the strangeness,
an oppressive administration does its best to keep the kids from having
too much free time in which idle hands can find terrible things to
do. The teachers, all insane in their own rights, also add their
parts. The final addition is the side-by-side setting of a left-brain
dominated school and a right-brained one. Needless to say, things
are usually fairly interesting at both the EAE and the EAA.
