A sixteen year old girl came to me feeling very depressed and uninspired by school. Her mother was extremely concerned by her lack of engagement. This girl was extremely bright but did not do well in a traditional setting. Her mother said her creative side needed to be encouraged in order to get her engaged once again. We found a place for her in a wonderful, small, nurturing school in New England that taught students in a more alternative fashion. She found her niche and blossomed.
A female high school senior needed to find a boarding school placement over the summer because her parents had been assigned to a post without a suitable high school program. Knowing that she was going into her senior year, we focused on a school that would accept seniors, offer academic excellence, and be small enough that the other students would embrace her. She did extremely well that year in a small, all-girls school, and went on the next year to a very competitive college.
A young man with two employed parents needed to find a placement late in the summer. He was extremely academically oriented and needed a challenging situation. We found the perfect school for him, he was accepted, and he is now at one of the U.S. service academies.
A family with two employed parents was suddenly separated by an evacuation, leaving them with some important decisions to make quickly regarding the children’s education. The older daughter remained in her boarding school and became the school’s star student; the younger one remained with mom and came back to the U.S. The father remained overseas and commented that the daughter in the European boarding school was the only one in the family thriving throughout the crisis. I went to see her while visiting schools and saw for myself that she was a happy, well-adjusted young lady despite the turmoil the family had been through.
A family with a son who had significant development delays contacted me regarding life as an internationally mobile family and wondered about embarking on such a lifestyle. We spent hours of counseling up front while they were still in their home environments, and the family prepared to homeschool their son, knowing few schools overseas would be able to meet his special needs. The mother was brilliant in her new role, and the son flourished. All members of the family are now at peace when several years later, he is in a boarding school that specializes in adolescents with his unique needs.
A young woman of 17 moved to a remote location for what would have been her senior year of high school. She had never lived overseas before, and her school only offered the International Baccalaureate program. Therefore, she was put back a year to start the IB curriculum. She was miserable, and things finally reached a crisis point mid-year. She came back to the U.S. for a thorough evaluation and was found to have an undiagnosed learning disability that had never been addressed, as well as anxiety and depression. Instead of going back to the school overseas, which was clearly inappropriate for her needs, I worked every contact I had to quickly find her a placement in a small, supportive all-girl’s school that had a good learning support center. Her problems did not magically disappear, but she did make great progress and was much happier in her new setting.
A young man, 15, started looking for a boarding school for his junior and senior years. He had everything going for him – stellar resume, grades, sports, and personality. The conversation focused on just how much academic pressure he was willing to take on. He was adamant he wanted to push himself, and was given several offers of admission to very competitive boarding schools. In the end, he chose the one that seemed to be the best fit for him and is now doing extremely well.
One family started talking about the older child who needed a boarding school placement for high school. She had not been excited about school, but knew that she should be. Meanwhile, the younger 12 year old brother was going to go to post, but after some discussion, it was determined that the new school overseas was extremely small with very limited offerings and in the kind of place where kids couldn’t even play outside. We made a serious school search and found schools that they each fell in love with; he in a junior boarding school and she in her dream school. The parents, who weren’t at all sure about the boarding school option, were thrilled that the kids were so happy and doing so well. It took much of the pressure and stress off of that international assignment.
A fifteen year old male student was extremely bright, but also had major struggles with ADD, depression, and behavior issues at school, resulting in numerous suspensions. The relationship at home was fraught with conflict and the family was at the breaking point. He was belligerent about the thought of going to boarding school, and opposed every suggestion we made. However, he was finally convinced to try a wilderness program and thrived in that environment. After the intervention, he was admitted to a very reputable boarding school that offered a learning support center along with plenty of academic challenge. His attitude has improved and he is back on the road to success.
A young man, 14, living with a single, working parent was starting to go down the wrong road. He was very bright but not very engaged at school. In fact, he came home from school every day and either played video games or went out with his friends. He was starting to experiment with marijuana; the parent knew that they needed to turn things around. We developed a list of schools the student would be interested in and he knew the minute he entered the sound studio of one of the schools that he had found his new home. There he flourished, becoming a student tour guide, captain of the soccer team, and excelled in his academics. His father could not have been happier with the change, commenting he now had his son back.
A young man, 14, was struggling in his international school setting. Special programs and tutors had been set up for him, but he still failed to thrive in that environment. The family, the student, and the school were unhappy and frustrated with the situation. We arranged for him to have a good psycho-educational evaluation which was extremely enlightening. After much discussion and thought, the parents agreed that his needs would be better served in a school that specialized in his learning profile and would provide an appropriate peer group. This case was extremely complex, and we were able to narrow the choices down to the best program possible for his individual learning and social needs.
A young man, 18, was admitted into a very selective and competitive college. However, having just been diagnosed with ADD, he was overwhelmed with all the independence, lack of structure, freedom, and new responsibilities. By the end of first term, he was nearing failure. It was imperative to get him in touch with student counseling and learning support services so that his academic experience could be salvaged before it was too late. My role was to facilitate the communication between the university services and his parents so that the university could offer the support needed, as well as provide support for the parents, who were quite distraught over the situation.
If you would like the next success story to be yours, please contact us to see how we can help.
