This article appeared as "Independent Ambassador" in the Summer 2023 issue of Independent School.There were times during his public middle school experience when Jake Donziger admits he was “viewed as disinterested, directionless, and lost.” And now, after three years in independent schools, the rising senior at Kimball Union Academy (NH) is setting his sights on a career in independent schools.
Donziger’s entrée into independent schools started when he was 14 and began looking online for education alternatives. He believed his learning differences—ADHD, nonverbal challenges, and slow processing speeds—were holding him back, and as he learned more about boarding schools, he became interested in the possibility of a tight-knit community with smaller classes.
“I began to see that boarding schools existed not only on a ‘Harry Potter’ film set but also as an important alternative to traditional education,” Donziger says. He convinced his reluctant parents to let him attend Middlebridge School (RI), a boarding school that specializes in learning differences. The school offered more support through 1:1 staff-student ratios, with an average of five students per class, and instructors who understood and knew how to work with students like him.
“In my two years at Middlebridge, I underwent a holistic transformation,” he says. “My social confidence, academic performance, and extracurricular involvement ascended to levels I had never thought possible. I will never forget my time with Middlebridge’s warm and loving community. Everyone should get a chance to be part of something like that.”
In early 2022, Donziger founded Blazr Consulting, a service that helps prospective students optimize using online search tools and ranking websites like Niche and Boarding School Review and analyze individual school websites and social media. Other services include “Authentic Community Connection,” which helps connect prospective families with others who have been in their shoes during the inquiry and application process. “Analyzing educational pathways is an art form, and my service can help equip families with the tools they need to own their search process,” says Donziger, who has worked with 14 families and last summer interned at The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) and PREP Athletics, managing databases and conducting research.
This past fall, Donziger transferred to Kimball Union Academy for more challenge as he prepares for college, where he hopes to major in organizational management and study independent school leadership at Klingenstein Center, Teachers College, Columbia University. He hopes to start working in boarding school admission when he graduates college and has his sights set even higher. “I hope to one day become a head of school,” he says.
Top photo: Jake Donziger, a Kimball Union Academy student, created Blazr Consulting, an independent school consultancy.
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