The wikipedia page does not appear to exist anymore. The youtube link is six hours (!) of low-quality home video. Their FB page is private, and looks to have very low activity.
I've never heard of YDE, and judging from the response rate 10 years ago to OP, neither have many other people.
Neither of the above posts tell me anything about what was so weird about YDE, except it had something to do with pineapples, and I'm guessing free labor. "Hell from beginning to end was nothing short of a crazy time in my life" really doesn't tell us anything.
When I was in high school in the 1960s we got invitations to pick pineapples in Hawaii during the summer and told we'd "make big money". Didn't sound very fun.