Following their presentation at the Small Boarding Schools Association conference in California last month, Dr. Heather Tracy, Executive Director and Co-founder of New Summit Academy, and Strategic Enrollment Director Adam Beeson returned from the United Kingdom last week where they presented at the Boarding Schools' Association Annual Conference for Heads in York.

Drawing on the twenty year history and experience of New Summit Academy, our team shared strategies that UK and international boarding schools can implement to help anxious students thrive. 

Speaking to more than 200 delegates in attendance, the presentation - "Aiding The Anxious Generation: Strategies for Improved Student Outcomes and Retention" - created much conversation around what more traditional boarding schools can be doing differently to support their students.

As the largest association of boarding schools in the world, the BSA represents member boarding schools in more than 50 countries, provides training for boarding staff and promotes boarding education.

How does New Summit Academy create a learning environment where students can thrive? Check out our new school video to see these strategies in action! 

When a teen is struggling with anxiety, depression, school avoidance, or unhealthy coping strategies, the decision to seek support outside the home can feel overwhelming. Parents want more than a temporary fix; they want real change in a safe, engaging, and growth-oriented environment.

That’s why so many families choose New Summit Academy Costa Rica. Here are the top reasons parents trust us with their sons’ education and wellbeing:

1. Supportive, Strengths-Based Approach
At New Summit Academy, we don’t see students as broken or in need of fixing. We see them as capable young men who need space, structure, and support to reconnect with their strengths. Our advisors, teachers, and counselors work collaboratively to help students set personal goals, build confidence, and thrive socially and academically.

2. Therapeutic Integration Without the Stigma
​Therapy at New Summit Academy isn’t something students “go to” - it’s built into every part of daily life. Through small group discussions, individualized advising, family work, and community activities, emotional wellness becomes second nature. Students learn to reflect, self-regulate, and connect authentically while feeling like part of a real school community, not a treatment center.

3. Experiential Learning in a Beautiful Setting
Our location in Costa Rica is a key part of our success. Whether students are earning SCUBA certifications, hiking cloud forests, or working on community projects with local families, every experience is designed to build resilience, cultural competency, confidence and leadership skills.

4. College-Prep Academics with Personalized Support
​With small classes and individualized instruction, our accredited academic program helps students catch up, stay on track, or even accelerate. Teachers integrate executive functioning skills - like organization, time management, and self-advocacy - into every lesson, ensuring students build real-world competence.

5. Proven Outcomes and Long-Term Success
After 6-12 months at New Summit Academy, many students successfully transition to traditional boarding schools, university, or gap year programs. They don’t just survive - they thrive because they know themselves better and know what they need to do well. Parents regularly report stronger relationships, renewed motivation, and lasting emotional growth.

A Different Path, A Better Future
Choosing a boarding school for your son isn’t easy. But for many families, New Summit Academy offers a path forward - one rooted in purpose, connection, and real transformation.

Interested in learning if New Summit Academy is the right fit?

Contact our admissions team at admissions@newsummitacademy.com

Demonstrating their ongoing commitment to lifelong learning and professional growth, three members of New Summit Academy’s dedicated faculty and staff - Clinical Director and Co-Founder Mario Duran, therapist Ignacio Vasquez, and English teacher Yannick Pilgrim - recently took part in The Autism Symposium, where more than 45 referring professionals and 100 programs to explore cutting-edge treatment approaches for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The 2025 Symposium was held over three days in Sunriver, Oregon and featured a series of innovative workshops led by leading experts in the field, offering valuable insights and practical strategies for our team to bring back to Costa Rica.

​The symposium opened with a keynote address by renowned child psychiatrist Dr. John Constantino, who presented research on the connection between parental social responsiveness and ASD risk in offspring. He emphasized the importance of early diagnosis and strongly advocated for precision intervention, an integrated approach that combines high-quality psychiatric care, individualized education plans, and positive behavior support strategies to reduce the likelihood of co-occurring intellectual disabilities.

Building on Dr. Constantino’s foundation, the New Summit team engaged in a wide range of workshops covering cognitive disengagement, psychological flexibility, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), pathological demand avoidance (PDA), and integrating neurodivergent-informed care with practical accommodations. These sessions gave the team fresh perspectives and tools to enhance their work with neurodivergent students.

​Among the key takeaways were the continued use of mindfulness and self-management techniques to support behavioral interventions, along with the vital role of fostering autonomy and creating a sense of safety in therapeutic settings.

At New Summit Academy, we remain committed to providing inclusive, student-centered care. The 2025 Autism Symposium reaffirmed the value of a synergistic, neurodiversity-affirming approach in promoting self-acceptance and functional development for individuals on the autism spectrum.

For twenty years, New Summit Academy Costa Rica has engaged students in rigorous, college-prep academics, ensuring they are ready for the future—wherever their paths lead.

A key to our success is our highly-qualified teachers’ dedication to building personal connections in and out of the classroom, fostering engagement and growth.

Meet some of our incredible educators:

Arts and elective courses at New Summit Academy provide students with a unique opportunity to explore their emotions, express themselves authentically, and embark on a journey of self-discovery.

Our students are talented photographers, filmmakers, musicians and artists. Their exploration of the arts is an important element of our college prep curriculum, and for good reason.

A 2019 study from Brookings found that "a substantial increase in arts educational experiences has remarkable impacts on students’ academic, social, and emotional outcomes," including:

• An improvement of 13% in standardized writing scores
  
• A nearly 4% increase in positive contribution to the learning community
  
• An 8% increase in showing compassion for others
  

We are excited to share this selection of the incredible student work from our photography class last academic term. Photography students not only receive expert guidance from our documentary filmmaking and photography teacher, they learn to use professional-level editing software in our campus studio.

Not every teen is a fit for a traditional school environment, and that’s not a failure. It just means they need something different, something more supportive, and something that fits who they are, not who they’re expected to be.

At New Summit Academy Costa Rica, we work with families and professionals to determine if our program is the right match. Our students are capable, bright, and creative, but many arrive here feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected.

So, who is a good fit for New Summit Academy?

Let’s take a closer look at the students who tend to thrive in our unique, integrated environment.

1. Bright Students Who Struggle with Traditional School Systems
New Summit Academy students are often:

• Intelligent and thoughtful
  
• Curious and creative
  
• Capable of high achievement
  

But they may also struggle with:

• Executive functioning: procrastination, disorganization, task initiation
  
• Perfectionism or fear of failure
  
• School refusal or avoidance
  
• Burnout from academic or social pressure
  

They need a space where they can reconnect with learning without fear, shame, or overload, and where they can experience success again, on their own terms.

2. Teens Who Are Emotionally Aware but Overwhelmed
Our students often aren’t “behavioral” - in other words, they aren’t acting out. In fact, they’re usually quite self-reflective and aware of their struggles.

They may deal with:

• Anxiety or social anxiety
  
• Depression or low self-worth
  
• Emotional sensitivity
  
• Chronic stress or burnout
  

At New Summit Academy, we normalize emotional growth. Personal development is not a side track; it’s fully integrated into the student experience.

3. Adolescents Ready for a Change, But Not a Lockdown
New Summit Academy is not a residential treatment center. We’re also not a rigid or punitive environment.

We serve students who:

• Need more structure and support than a traditional school
  
• Don’t need containment or intensive clinical intervention
  
• Are ready to take ownership of their growth with support
  

Our model is called Supportive Immersion. Students are immersed in meaningful experiences (academics, travel, cultural exchange, service, outdoor adventures) with caring adults guiding them every step of the way.

4. Students Who Benefit From Smaller, Relationship-Based Communities
Our ideal student has:

• A desire to be seen and known
  
• The capacity to form positive relationships
  
• A willingness to engage in community
  

We are a small boarding school by design. With just 20–30 students on campus at a time, we are a place where students are never anonymous and always supported.

This structure is especially powerful for students who feel isolated, excluded, or lost in larger schools.

5. Families Who Want a Collaborative, Purposeful Experience
We work best with families who:

• Want to be involved in the process
  
• Are looking for a values-based experience
  
• Are open to therapeutic support that focuses on growth, not pathology
  

Parents participate in:

• Regular family calls and coaching
  
• Family workshops and on-campus visits
  
• Collaborative work with our team to set and review goals and plans
  

This isn’t just a placement. It’s a partnership.

Who We’re Not Right For
New Summit Academy is not the right setting for students who:

• Need 24/7 clinical monitoring or containment
• Struggle with active addiction or aggression
• Are unwilling to engage in community norms or structured routines
• Require intensive psychiatric care

We’re a supportive boarding school, not a treatment center, and we aim to maintain a safe, supportive, and emotionally attuned community for all students.

Is Your Teen a Fit for New Summit Academy?
If your child is:

• Bright, but underachieving or burned out
• Emotionally aware, but struggling with stress, anxiety, or executive functioning
• Needing more support than a traditional school can offer
• Ready to explore the world, grow personally, and re-engage in learning...

…then New Summit Academy Costa Rica might be exactly what you’ve been searching for. We’d love to connect and explore what’s possible. 

New Summit Academy's one-of-a-kind Aventura program engages students in true experiential education in the rainforests, on the beaches, and even floating in the coastal waters of Costa Rica.

​Newer student cohorts spend a week with experiential education mentors, therapists, and teachers kayaking around the pristine waters of the Golfo Dulce in the south of Costa Rica. Students learn about coastal ecosystems including mangroves, coral reefs, and watersheds in classes surrounded by what they are studying.  Learning is solidified as our community explores estuaries, snorkels among reefs, and encounters sea turtles, dolphins, manta rays, and more as they paddle.

​Our cohort of students on their second Aventura spend a week learning about forest succession and symbiotic relationships as they hike through living examples in Corcovado National Park, one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. Their living classroom is joined by tapir, monkeys, and scarlet macaws - learning experiences that students will never forget.

​Keep an eye out for our next round of engaging, integrated Aventura experiences in the rich culture of Panama!

We are thrilled that New Summit Academy Costa Rica is featured in the Winter 2025 edition of International School Magazine. ​The feature story highlights our unique Supportive Immersion approach to learning and growth at our small boarding school.

As we embark on our twentieth year of offering transformational Supportive Immersion experiences in Costa Rica, we are so grateful to receive messages like this one from alumni students and families:

Here is a look back at some of those moments of joy and purpose over the past year at our supportive boarding school's beautiful campus in Atenas: