Don Vardell Joins Shortridge Academy

I would like to take a moment to include you in some exciting and important news. To continue to enhance the positive youth development programs and services at Shortridge Academy, I am pleased to announce an addition to our leadership team.

Don Vardell is joining Shortridge as Executive Director. Don is highly regarded in our field and has many years of experience leading and managing therapeutic schools and programs like ours. Placing an emphasis on consistency and responsiveness regarding organizational structure, communication protocols, and management style, he will contribute immediately to our mission and vision.

Don's attention to day-to-day management of the school will afford me the opportunity to shift my focus. My vision for Shortridge is one that integrates all aspects of a student's and family's experience to best promote positive youth development. This vision also includes a research component to measure this positive development. Having created strong ties to leading researchers at Tufts University, University of Denver, Boston College, and the University of New Hampshire, I am even more excited and hopeful that this vision for the school is a realistic one and will be enhanced by Don's presence.

On a more personal note, I have known Don for some time now and have great confidence that both his heart and mind harmonize with our Shortridge philosophy, reinforcing the reason many of you choose to view Shortridge as a strong choice for families. He and I will share an office, and I intend to remain close to all decisions.

Don, his wife Becky and their two children will be arriving in New Hampshire in early September. I look forward to their arrival and to the contributions Don's skills and experience will bring to Shortridge.

Shortridge Academy is a year round, college preparatory, therapeutic boarding school for young men and women ages 14-17 years old at enrollment, grades 9-12. Shortridge Academy is one of only a few therapeutic boarding schools in the Northeast accredited by the rigorous New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and the only school of its kind that explicitly utilizes the evidenced-based Positive Youth Development (PYD) curriculum to guide the individualized therapeutic programming for students. Since 2002 Shortridge Academy has been helping students and families who are struggling with academic performance, loss of interest in activities and increased conflict in family or peer relationships. For more information, see www.shortridgeacademy.com or call 603-755-3096.