At New Summit Academy, this is what it looked like when a student turned an idea into something that made a real difference.

Last Saturday, our student, Wells, took the stage for a live benefit concert, the result of months of rehearsals, planning, and leadership. What began as a personal idea grew into a full-scale production. Wells formed a band, organized practices, and led the group all the way to a live performance in support of a local family he had been working with in Costa Rica.

The concert brought the community together and ultimately raised $5,600, exceeding expectations and creating tangible impact for the family.

The funds raised will go toward purchasing a power generator for the family, helping ensure reliable access to light, refrigeration, and greater day-to-day stability at home. For Wells, the project was not just about music. It was about following through on a commitment and using his strengths to support others in a meaningful, practical way.

​Experiences like this are part of what defines our supportive boarding school. Students are supported in taking ownership of their growth while also learning how their actions can positively affect others.

At New Summit Academy, Landmark Projects invite students to connect with what is within them and contribute to the world beyond them. Each project is student-driven and built around individual strengths, whether through music, service, craftsmanship, or entrepreneurship.

In a small boarding school setting, students receive the structure and support needed to take ideas from concept to completion. Wells’ concert reflected not only his musical ability, but also his capacity for leadership, organization, and follow-through.

​These projects are a core part of life at a supportive boarding school like New Summit Academy. They help students build confidence, develop accountability, and strengthen their sense of purpose during their time on campus.

Wells’ benefit concert demonstrated what can happen when students are given the space and support to lead. The $5,600 raised will have a direct and lasting impact on a family’s daily life, while the experience itself will continue to shape Wells’ growth moving forward.

At New Summit Academy, student-led experiences like this are part of a broader commitment to helping young people become capable, engaged, and contributing members of their communities.

What happens when learning is rooted in purpose, connection, and real-world experience? Our Executive Director, Dr. Heather Tracy, joined Lori Boll on the SENIA International Podcast this week to share insights from our work at New Summit Academy and The Bridge Costa Rica!

During the episode, Dr. Tracy explores the philosophy behind New Summit Academy's model of Supportive Immersion, an approach that blends experiential learning, cultural immersion, and strong relational support. By stepping outside traditional academic environments and into meaningful real-world experiences, students have the opportunity to reconnect with their strengths, build resilience, and rediscover a sense of purpose.

The conversation also highlights the importance of redefining success. Rather than measuring achievement through a narrow lens, New Summit encourages students to better understand themselves, develop confidence in their abilities, and discover what they uniquely have to offer the world.

We’re grateful to SENIA International for hosting this inspiring conversation and helping share the possibilities of inclusive education.

For 40 years,  The Good Schools Guide  has helped parents with every aspect of choosing the best education for their children. Currently, the Guide offers more than 1,300 reviews of UK schools along with nearly 300 international school reviews covering 40 countries across the globe.

New Summit Academy's recent "What the School Says" contribution highlights those elements of our supportive boarding school that help it stand apart from any other school in the world.

​Here is an inside look at the feature:

When a teen is struggling with anxiety or depression, school is often where it shows first.

Mornings become harder. Grades drop despite ability. Social situations feel overwhelming. Motivation fades. Families try therapy, tutoring, accommodations, yet the overall pattern remains the same.

​If traditional school isn’t working, it may not be about effort. It may be about environment.

Large, fast-paced schools can unintentionally intensify anxiety. Students may feel overstimulated, socially exposed, or constantly behind. For teens experiencing depression, the pressure to “push through” can deepen withdrawal and self-doubt.

​A small, supportive boarding environment offers something fundamentally different:

• Predictable daily structure
• Small class sizes
• Close relationships with adults
• Personalized academics
• Built-in residential community

Structure reduces uncertainty. Relationship reduces isolation. Together, they create the foundation for growth.

A supportive, therapeutic boarding school blends accredited academics with integrated emotional support. Therapy is not separate from school life; it is woven into advising, residential routines, and mentoring relationships.

At New Summit Academy, enrollment is intentionally small so each student is known deeply. Faculty and residential staff understand not just academic performance, but the full picture of a student’s emotional and social experience.

Support may include:

• Individual and group therapy
  
• Integrated executive functioning coaching
  
• Structured study halls
  
• Regular advisor check-ins
  
• Experiential and outdoor learning
  
• Cultural immersion and travel
  

​This layered approach allows students to practice coping skills in real time — not just talk about them in an office once a week.

Anxiety and depression often erode a teen’s sense of competence. Over time, capable students begin to see themselves as incapable.

Confidence is rarely restored through pressure. It returns through small, consistent wins:

• Completing assignments on time
  
• Participating in class
  
• Navigating peer relationships
  
• Contributing meaningfully to the community
  

Structure creates safety. Safety allows risk. Risk builds resilience.

​For many families, distance also creates space to reset family dynamics. Parents step out of the role of daily academic enforcer, allowing relationships to soften and rebuild.

A supportive, therapeutic boarding school may be appropriate if:

• School avoidance is increasing
• Academic performance has significantly declined
• Anxiety is interfering with daily functioning
• Depression is leading to isolation and disengagement
• Outpatient therapy alone has not shifted the pattern

It is not the right setting for teens who require acute psychiatric stabilization; a small, supportive boarding school like New Summit Academy is not a residential treatment center. But for students who are capable but struggling, boarding school can provide steady, relational accountability.

When anxiety or depression begins to define your teen’s school experience, it can feel discouraging. In the right environment (one grounded in structure, connection, and individualized support) many students rediscover confidence, belonging, and renewed academic momentum.

At New Summit Academy, we serve capable, thoughtful adolescent males whose progress has slowed due to anxiety, depression, executive functioning challenges, or social stress.  These students are bright, creative, empathetic, and open. And they're also stuck.
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​Think of New Summit when a student needs time, structure, and therapeutic support — but also real school, real relationships, and a clear path forward.

What makes New Summit Academy different from many programs is that personal growth support, college prep academics, and experiential education are fully integrated. Therapy isn’t something students leave class to attend; it’s woven into the rhythm of daily life. Therapists are active members of the community, working alongside academic advisors and student life mentors to help students build insight, skills, and momentum.

Place matters, too. Costa Rica’s pace and culture naturally support regulation, reflection, and reconnection, offering students space to reset and build confidence while moving forward academically. Studying abroad in Costa Rica, learning a new language, and leading service and cultural exchange initiatives foster positive identity development.

New Summit Academy isn’t about getting students “back on track.” It’s about helping them build a stronger one so they can transition with confidence to traditional boarding schools, day schools, universities, trade schools or gap year programs.

For a student who might benefit from a different pace, a different place, and a deeply supportive boarding community, New Summit Academy could be the right next step.

January often arrives with pressure for teens and parents alike to start over, fix everything, and become someone entirely new.

At New Summit Academy, we take a different approach. Real growth doesn’t require reinvention. It requires support, structure, and the space to make steady, meaningful progress.

Many of the adolescents who come to our supportive boarding school arrive exhausted by academic, social, emotional, and internal expectations. They are not “broken,” and they don’t need to be replaced by a new version of themselves. What they need is a reset rooted in consistency, accountability, and connection.

Growth happens when students feel safe enough to be honest, regulated enough to reflect, and supported enough to try again.

Our year-round boarding school in Costa Rica is intentionally designed to reduce noise and increase clarity. Through small class sizes, daily structure, therapy, experiential learning, and cultural immersion, students begin to understand themselves better, not as a list of problems to solve, but as capable young people learning new skills. Progress might look like improved emotional regulation, healthier peer interactions, or renewed academic engagement.

These changes are often subtle at first, but they compound over time.

For families considering supportive boarding school, especially at the start of a new year, it’s important to know that success is not defined by perfection or dramatic overnight change. At New Summit Academy, success is forward motion. It’s helping students build momentum they can carry with them long after they leave our campus.

A new year doesn’t require a new kid. It simply requires the right environment for growth to take root.

As we close out 2025, Dr. Heather Tracy, Executive Director and Co-Founder of New Summit Academy, shares a short message of gratitude, reflection, and hope for what lies ahead. We’re honored to celebrate with our partners and community 20 years of our supportive boarding school and study abroad experience in Costa Rica, along with a year of meaningful growth at The Bridge Costa Rica.

​Thank you for being part of a community committed to helping young people grow, contribute, and thrive. See you in 2026!

Last week, members of the New Summit Academy and The Bridge Costa Rica leadership team traveled to New England for a series of conferences, school visits, and alumni connections that highlight our role as a trusted partner within the broader boarding school community.

A key moment of the trip was Executive Director Dr. Heather Tracy’s participation in an expert panel at the The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) Conference in Boston. The discussion, focused on navigating the fine line between traditional and therapeutic boarding schools, underscored an important truth: while many students thrive in supportive boarding school settings, others benefit from a structured, relational reset before they can fully access academic and community life. New Summit Academy’s 6-12 month study abroad model in Costa Rica continues to serve as that bridge, blending U.S.-accredited academics with intentional social-emotional skill-building, cultural immersion, and therapeutic support.

The team also visited several partner schools across Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, strengthening collaboration around student transitions, wellbeing, and guided independence. Meanwhile, Dr. Danny Recio joined colleagues at the NE NATSAP Conference and spoke at The Greenwood School about how supportive gap experiences help “late bloomers” develop confidence, purpose, and readiness for adulthood.

These partnerships matter. This year, 64% of our 2025 graduates enrolled in a more traditional boarding school, evidence of what early intervention, thoughtful planning, and social-emotional development can accomplish.

Whether through our supportive high school abroad, our gap year at The Bridge, or our growing portfolio of collaborations with schools, New Summit Academy remains deeply committed to helping adolescents and young adults reset, grow, and return ready to thrive.

At New Summit Academy, cultural immersion is at the heart of our supportive boarding school and study abroad experience in Costa Rica. This month, our Cultural Immersion class had the privilege of welcoming artists from Los Borucas, an indigenous community renowned for their vibrant mascaradas: hand-carved wooden masks representing animals, ancestral spirits, and powerful cultural symbols.

Students learned each step of the traditional process, from sketching and carving to painting and finishing. Guided by Boruca artisans, they even created their own miniature masks, discovering firsthand how patience, creativity, and cultural heritage come together through art.

Cultural immersion is one of the most meaningful elements of a high school abroad program. At New Summit Academy, students regularly engage with the local community, whether through service projects, homestay Sundays, shared meals, or campus celebrations like Día de las Culturas and Día Nacional de las Mascaradas. Within our multicultural faculty and student body, they practice Spanish, build cross-cultural communication skills, and learn how to navigate differences with empathy and curiosity.

By learning from others, New Summit Academy students ultimately learn more about themselves, and carry those insights into their futures.