Building Bridges is excited to welcome David Mitchell to the Building Bridges team.  He is a great addition to the expanding vocational program.  David brings years of experience teaching high school, owning his own manufacturing business, and coaching high school robotics.  David’s history and enthusiasm fit perfectly with their mission of “bringing real life to treatment.”

David grew up in California and enrolled in community college before joining the US Navy.  While in the Navy, he traveled the world as a machine repairman on an aircraft carrier.  After he was honorably discharged, he worked as a machinist in WA and worked as a supervisor for 10 years.

David branched out and started his own manufacturing company, working with Boeing, Bombardier and the NASA shuttle program.  David won the Small Business of the Year award for his work with the Nuclear Physics Lab at the University of WA and other awards for his business innovations.  He moved his company to the Central Oregon coast and became one of the largest employers on the coast.

He had the opportunity to sell his business and went back to school to earn his teaching certification so he could pass on his skills and knowledge to the next generation of machinists. He began teaching high school level pre-engineering, manufacturing, welding, electronics, computer-aided design, and robotics at Clackamas Community College. He created an articulation program that provided for the linking of high school courses to community college courses, which allowed students to earn advanced placement and/or college credit for those courses. 

David was the stem coordinator and coached the robotics team as well. STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. After teaching for sixteen years at the same school he decided to partially retire to Thompson Falls, MT.   Being in Thompson Falls allows him to participate in outdoor activities he enjoys, and Building Bridges gives him the opportunity to continue to pass his passion on to the next generation.

Building Bridges

Building Bridges is a licensed Chemical Dependent Treatment Center that is structured as a Therapeutic Boarding School in Thompson Falls, MT for boys 13-18 with substance and behavioral issues. Our passion is creating a structure that mirrors real life with the goal to have the boys eventually attend the public highschool. Another unique piece is our Summer Adventure Program that is a combined eight weeks of being outdoors in the beautiful landscape that is Montana.