Boulder Creek Academy, a therapeutic boarding school that serves ages 13 through 18, weaves coeducational, fully accredited academics into a relationship-based therapy program and welcomes struggling students. Highlighting one of the programs at BCA, Career & Technology Education (CTE) instructor Warren Hartz, Ed.D. shared some exciting news about community involvement opportunities for BCA students: “We are eager to dive into working on projects, using our hands, learning how to use new tools and connecting with our community. We have several projects ahead of us the next few months.”

First, Boulder Creek Academy thanks a community member who saw a need and wanted to help, a retired engineer and industrial arts teacher who just moved to the Inland Northwest from Connecticut.  Having made a connection with BCA’s CTE teacher, the gentleman asked, “What do you need?” This generous man wanted to help teens participate in industrial arts, so he drove back to Connecticut and returned with over $4,ooo worth of power hand tools, an air compressor, a shop size MIG welder and a radial arm saw, and then donated these items to the Boulder Creek Academy CTE program.  “It was like Christmas opening up the boxes! Some were labeled with what was inside and some were labeled with, ‘You guess the contents!’”

The staff and students are making a giant thank you card from the school, sharing their gratitude and appreciation for such a generous donation to the developing CTE program.  The students share their excitement for future classes such as the next springs’ Woods 1 class, Woods 2, and the Home and Power course.

Finally, this month closes as students complete the Woods 1 course requirements of building a cricket bench and keepsake boxes from scratch. Woodworkers will complete projects in time for the holiday break, and they share their projects with pride.

Therapist Jeanne Racer, LCSW expresses the gratitude felt by the entire BCA staff: “I just want to say thanks to Warren for bringing such cool projects to our students to learn and work on. Thanks for our leadership team for making this a thing on our campus again. I love the conversations the students are having with their parents on what they are working on and the value it brings to their sense of self that they can do these things. Great stuff!”

Boulder Creek Academy is elated for the CTE program taking flight.

About Boulder Creek Academy

At Boulder Creek Academy, students rediscover their academic and social confidence. The key to our success is that we reignite our students’ belief in themselves by utilizing time-tested and proven methods. Students begin to experience academic achievement, regain self-esteem, learn to embrace their uniqueness, and become capable learners who are confident in themselves. Each day at Boulder Creek Academy is purposefully designed to maximize experiences that allow students to practice social skills, improve self-worth and develop a healthy identity, benefit from therapeutic learning, and to have fun.

Boulder Creek Academy has been creating a therapeutic learning environment for high school students ages 14-18 with anxiety, depression, untapped academic potential, interpersonal relationship difficulties, limited executive function skills and overlooked strengths and talents for more than 25 years.