By Jill Tucker and Joaquin Palomino, San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 2019

The two-story brick building on a quiet street in Queens doesn’t stand out from the million-dollar homes scattered throughout the neighborhood.

There are no signs on the former Catholic convent, nothing to indicate that inside are five New York City teens who committed felony assault, grand larceny, gun possession or another serious crime. Placed here by a judge’s order, each is spending an average of seven months to learn new life skills and become a productive member of society.

In a classroom on the second floor, the teens hurry to copy details about the battle of Lexington and the British loss in the American Revolution from a whiteboard. They will need to know the facts if they hope to win a high school history version of “Jeopardy” the next day.

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