Higher Ground Academy provides a Rites of Passage Challenge
Program for its culturally diverse student-body. The student body
is composed primarily of African American, Somali and Oromo
students. Given our diversity, particular care is taken to assure
infusion of the cultural experiences of the different groups into the
Academy’s Rites of Passage Challenge Program.
As a strategy for achieving recognition and affirmation, Higher Ground Academy provides for an initiative known as Achieving Common Ground. This initiative allows students from different cultural groups to work with staff members and community representatives to develop culturally inclusive programs and activities that can be introduced as a part of the Rites of Passage Challenge.  

Although traditional Rites of Passage is a culminating event that transforms boys to men and girls to women, there are however many experiences and developmental stages in the life of a child that occur within the structure of the family and the community. These experiences and developmental stages help prepare the child for the single culminating Rites of Passage event.  The Higher Ground Academy Rites of Passage Challenge draws on the more traditional model and additionally infuses relevant Afro-Centric lessons taught in the Academy. Elders, parents and Academy teachers mentor Rites of Passage initiates and help guide them through experiential activities that allow the initiates to achieve a much deeper understanding of how the academic lesson learned during their course of study can be applied to everyday life. The process of taking academic lessons and thoughtfully applying them to everyday life helps in creating the cultural synergy that underlies human development and community building.      

Higher Ground Academy’s Rites of Passage Challenge is organized into (4) four domains of development, which in turn are linked to 5 grade levels

The (4) four developmental domains are
1. Social Development
2. Wellness/Physical Development
3. Cognitive/Intellectual Development
4. Leadership Development