Piney Woods: An Academic Oasis

Morley Safer Revisits An Alternative School In Rural Mississippi, 12 Years Later

(CBS)  For Monica Jackson, life with her mother was a trial. "I was the mother and she was the daughter," says Monica. "I was bad."

Before Monica arrived at Piney Woods, she was doing her best to become a statistic; she skipped school and was arrested three times.

"I got bottles broken over my head, and my best friend got stabbed three times," says Monica. "And after that, I said, 'This is just not the way I want to live my life at all. I can't handle this. I just don't want to be like this.'"

"I wanted out," adds Monica, who got out, big time. She says that Piney Woods has really become home to her. "For once in my life, I was learning something, not getting by. I was on the honor roll. And that's just, I mean, that just surprised me. Monica Jackson on honor roll?"

"When you go back out there in the world, do you think that the experience here will have shaped you," Safer asks Quiahmah.

"Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I know myself. And I'm sure if I was home, I wouldn't be as proud as I am now," says Quiahmah. "I've always been told to walk with your head up, walk straight, be proud, and that has helped me a lot."

The kids who Safer met at the Piney Woods school 12 years ago are all grown up now. Safer checked up on a couple of them to see if Piney Woods has continued to make a difference in their lives.

Quiahmah is 28 now and back home in New York. "I often think about what Dr. Beady has said. We didn't have a right to be there," says Quiahmah. "It was a privilege to be at Piney Woods. And now as an adult, I truly understand the meaning of those words."

After graduating from Piney Woods, Quiahmah went on to college, and then left to work in the fashion industry. But she’s now back in school and planning to get her master’s degree in business. She credits Piney Woods for the strong work ethic and the sense of pride she has today.

As for Piney Woods today, you’ll see that those values haven’t changed. Discipline and tough love are still the ruling principles, and still enforced by Dr. Beady. He still trolls the halls looking for any troublemaking, and is still taking a very personal interest.

He says Piney Woods continues to meet its goals: turning out responsible young men and women. He says that 98 percent of them go on to college. And few have made him prouder than Monica Jackson, the “at-risk” kid 60 Minutes met on its last visit.

Monica graduated from college with honors. She has a job at the V.A. Medical Center in Philadelphia, where she supervises clinical trials. Also, she's now Monica Williams, married with three children. She says that, in raising her kids, she uses the same principles she lived by at Piney Woods.

"Confidence, discipline, great self-esteem," says Monica. "Not a big house. Not a big car. But the actual love and discipline that I got, that taught me you can be as good as anybody else."

And had she not gone through that?

"It's so emotional for me, thinking about what would've happened to me if I hadn't gotten on the bus to go to Piney Woods," says Monica. "I'd probably either be in jail, or I don't know. I just don't think it would be good. There's no question in my mind, Piney Woods saved my life."