The road to John Dewey is typically long and painful.  It was for us.  But from the first time we visited the castle I experienced it as a place of hope and optimism.  It was not the kind of optimism based on bright promises of an easy fix but rather one grounded in a reality that actually seemed to offer a way out of a dead end: do this work and you can have your life back.  It did not disappoint.  JDA not only helped my son but also our entire family.  I will always be grateful for what JDA taught us and helped us do.

We found JDA after our 18 year old child threatened suicide, was found cutting, lied about a kidnapping incident, had run away and was planning to run away again. Doctors just kept prescribing more and more drugs that covered the problem but failed to deal with it. We knew if she went to college she’d never make it to graduation. She went to wilderness, then Dewey. After 6-8 months of apathy, defiance and confusion, she finally dug in and began to do the hard work of confronting her anger, self-esteem, challenges and flaws. And her JDA peers stood strong supporting her but also demanding honesty and progress. She is now a happy, successful student at American University looking forward to a demanding career and successful social and family life. Thank you JDA. You literally saved her life and figuratively saved our family.

Our child had a good first semester at college and I wanted to let you know he attributes his facility to balance his school work, ROTC obligations, and part-time tutoring to John Dewey Academy. He says the school well-prepared him for college, especially essay writing and analysis. He has commented how poorly many of the freshman students write. When our child arrived at Dewey, he was an underachieving student who could barely craft a sentence.  Now he is a young academic on the Dean’s List at one of the top schools in the country and managing his coursework with ease. So, thank you for everything and not just the work you did with my kid – but with all the students at JDA.

From school refusal and anxiety to acceptance at a leading college and most importantly a balanced and healthy young man, John Dewey Academy’s amazing staff, community model and strong academics played an essential role in our son’s recovery. Frankly, our family was in disarray and the school was with us every step of the way until we got our son back again.