Vocational School

Vocational School For Teen Boys

The Master’s Ranch Christian Academy’s Vocational School Program Sends Boys Out Ready for the Future

Ranch life provides the setting for the transformation that happens in boys at Master’s Ranch Christian Academy. At-risk boys live on a working farm and learn responsibility by caring for horses, cattle, pigs, and dogs. We give special attention to using animals in anger management and for healing problems with emotional attachment.

The Master’s Ranch boarding school program is heavily vocational in nature. Struggling boys learn from general contractors in wood, metal, cement, plumbing, welding, culinary arts, and electrical construction. After a time in the program, our boys get the opportunity to put their skills to work in the local economy and earn money for themselves for doing so.

While attending Master’s Ranch Christian Academy, troubled boys will also get their hunter’s safety permit and their driver’s permit or license after completing driver education. 

Master’s Ranch Christian Academy uses a military-style of organization and discipline, in that the boys navigate a rank structure through which they gradually earn elevated levels of trust, responsibility, authority, and privilege.  Breaking the rules leads to losing privileges. Master’s Ranch troubled boys are built up in their confidence and thoughtfulness, allowing them to successfully return to home life, college, vocational training, the military, or employment. We strongly push them toward a vocation or to move toward more training once they leave Master’s Ranch Christian Academy, which gives them the reason to keep a straight head and their eye on the target for their future, so they don’t fall back into old ways of thinking and acting.

Learning to Value Hard Work through a Wide Variety of Professional Trades

Vocational education is one of the great strengths of the Master’s Ranch Christian Academy vocational school program. Hard work is highly valued at the ranch. At-risk teen boys gain confidence, build character, and develop life skills through voluntary work projects, which are in addition to regular chores. Boys learn to use many different hands and power tools. When they graduate, they are conversant with doing “man” things around the home and shop.

The wide variety of trades includes:

• Brick Masonry
• Carpentry
• Concrete
• Auto Mechanic
• Welding
• Electrician
• Plumbing
• Computer Basics
• Culinary Arts
• Agriculture and Animal Husbandry

Serving the Community and Participating in the Local Economy

While at Master’s Ranch, a vocational school for boys, the older boys sometimes have opportunities to work in the local economy, exercising their new trade skills and earning money to help them on their way once they leave the ranch. The ranch itself provides some industries for the boys, such as cattle and hay operations, pedigree dog breeding, and farming, to name just a few. The boys gain marketable skills and a real sense of accomplishment from these endeavors, and perhaps some earnings, which are set aside for them for their new life after graduation.

Building Skills for a Productive Future

Our vocational school offers a vocational diploma through Western Christian Academy, for those with a strong interest in a vocation or those who lack the high school credit to earn a typical diploma. Many boys in the vocational programs go on to trade schools, such as the Missouri Welding Institute or nearby Black River Tech College.

Even more important than the actual skills, the boys learn how to work. They get in shape, overcome their laziness, and discover what it means to work hard. Numerous graduates, after finding success in their jobs or earning raises, call Master’s Ranch to thank them for teaching them about work.