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Alumni Spotlight

Early Childhood COVID-19 Safety Protocols
Jackson Bordelon '11

Jackson Bordelon '11 has always loved building things, and throughout his life he’s found ways to direct that love towards helping solve real world problems. As a freshman in high school, he participated in house-building trips to Tijuana, Mexico with his church, Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos. He’s currently preparing for his thirteenth trip to Mexico this summer. Jackson has sought out church leadership roles, first as a Caring Ministries Deacon and now as an Elder overseeing mission trips.

 Last year, Jackson’s interest in helping others led him to Amboseli, Kenya where he helped to teach the Maasai people how to retrofit their huts and install chimneys and solar panels. Rewarding experiences like these led to him to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering at Santa Clara University.

 Jackson BordelonWhile at Santa Clara University, Jackson continued to find ways to use construction to help bring about positive change. Jackson served as Building Chairperson for the SCU Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. In addition, he joined the SCU Chapter of Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), and competed for three years at the Associated Schools of Construction Competition in Reno, Nevada as a member of the Heavy Civil team. Jackson also served as President of the SCU AGC Chapter during his senior year.

Jackson recently completed his year-long Senior Design Project. It consisted of working with the City of San Jose on their Bridge Housing Community (BHC) Project. The BHC constructs “tiny home” cabins to provide temporary housing for temporarily homeless citizens of San Jose. Jackson and his project partner helped to design and construct a prototype that is far more versatile and mobile than the type currently in use. It uses panelized wall sections to allow for customizable cabins that can house not just individuals, but families as well.

 After graduation on June 15, 2019, Jackson will start work as a Project Engineer at Blach Construction Company in San Jose, California, where he worked the past four summers. He will continue to pursue his love of building while directing that passion towards helping the people who need it most.

ACDS is proud of our alumni and their accomplishments. Below are a few more alumni spotlights that show just a small sample of the exciting paths they forged after graduating from ACDS.  Please contact us to share your ACDS alumni story.

More Alumni Spotlights...

Margherita Bassi '12

Margherita Bassi '12, aka Titti Bassi, who also pens under MV Marguerite, has been busy since graduating ACDS in 2012. She is currently a freshman at Boston College, studying English Literature while also juggling being Varsity volleyball team captain and being a young adult fantasy/sci-fi author.

Maya Kaul '09

Maya Kaul '09 attended ACDS from the 4-year-olds program to 8th grade. She graduated from Pomona College in 2017 with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and went on to study Finnish teacher education and development at the University of Helsinki as a Fulbright Scholar. Maya is currently an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Predoctoral Fellow, William B. and Roberta V. Castetter Fellow, and Ph.D. student in Education Policy at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education with an anticipated graduation in May 2023.

Jake Heindel

Jake Heindel, Class of 2008, was first bitten by the film bug during his iMovie elective in middle school at ACDS and has been making films since then. Jake's latest short documentary is entitled, aptly, Perspective, and it is no wonder that this film went on to win the one of the prestigious 2015 Leigh Weimers Emerging Artists Awards.

Kristin Schroeder

Kristin Schroeder, MD, MPH, graduated from ACDS in 1993. Today, Dr. Schroeder is a Board Certified neuro-oncologist currently pioneering work with The Global Pathway, in partnership with Duke University, at Bugando Medical Center in Mwanze, Tanzania to improve access to chemotherapy and life-saving medications for pediatric cancer patients in Tanzania.

Bernie Zimmerman

Bernie Zimmerman '83 joined ACS as an inaugural ‘Country School of Almaden’ 4th grade student when the doors first opened in September 1982. Now the Clinical and Academic Director at Cherry Gulch, an award winning ranch-style therapeutic boarding school for boys, in Emmett, Idaho, Bernie credits his foundation at ACDS as a cornerstone of his academic journey and an influence on the standards set at Cherry Gulch. 

Early Childhood COVID-19 Safety Protocols

Jackson Bordelon '11 has always loved building things, and throughout his life he’s found ways to direct that love towards helping solve real world problems. As a freshman in high school, he participated in house-building trips to Tijuana, Mexico with his church, Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos. He’s currently preparing for his thirteenth trip to Mexico this summer. Jackson has sought out church leadership roles, first as a Caring Ministries Deacon and now as an Elder overseeing mission trips.