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Student names are anonymized to protect the privacy of our students.
When Ella arrived at Trillium Academy, she was stepping back into school after an 18-month leave. Like many twice-exceptional girls, she’d hidden her struggles behind her gifts—pretending everything was fine until she could no longer hold up the mask. When the pressure became unbearable, Ella broke down and was sent to the hospital to ensure her safety.
Ella entered a high school with aspirations of getting a PhD in particle physics and attending graduate school in Switzerland. Within the first month at a new traditional school, her ambitious academic goals, learning challenges, and intense perfectionism came to a head. “It was a disastrous combination,” her mom explains. "The curriculum was team-based, and she felt like she was letting her fellow classmates down when she was struggling.” Overwhelmed by the gap between her expectations and abilities, Ella lost time in class crying in the stairwell or bathroom. Eventually, she confided in her counselor that she no longer felt like she could go on living. Her family rushed her to the emergency room after a recommendation from her therapist and began a slow journey toward healing.
For months, Ella was in intensive therapy. “She was so traumatized from school that she could not conceive of ever going back,” her mom says. Eventually, she started taking online classes, but with two working parents, it wasn’t sustainable. “After mental health healing, my number one goal was to get her back to school,” her mother explains. “I couldn’t imagine my life without physics,” Ella reflects, “but I also couldn’t imagine being in any classroom ever again.”
They explored several options, including one-on-one programs that didn’t fill Ella’s social needs and specialized programs at large institutions that were too intimidating. Eventually, a friend suggested Trillium. When she looked at the brochure, Ella’s mom recognized her daughter in the descriptions of the student population. Hesitant, Ella agreed to try a shadow day.
Before being dropped off at Trillium, Ella was terrified. Her mother waited nearby, expecting a call within the hour that she needed to be picked up. But that call never came. After lunch, she returned to find Ella enjoying herself and ready to stay for the rest of the day. “Everyone was so nice, and it all felt like we were on the same page,” Ella recalls. The following week, Ella was still excited about Trillium and missed the students that she had met. “She’s used to having to pretend to be 'normal' and be what people want her to be. When she came to Trillium, she was with people like her who wouldn’t judge her. She could take down her mask and be her authentic self.”
At Trillium, Ella’s teachers met her with patience, compassion, and practical tools. When writing triggered her anxiety, one teacher offered to scribe her thoughts. At first, she resisted, thinking she wasn’t doing the work herself. But the teacher explained that it was still Ella’s thoughts—she was just recording them. That small act of understanding and accommodation was eye-opening: “I didn’t even need to ask. I didn’t feel singled out or like I was a hassle.” She is now becoming more independent and uses tools like speech-to-text to complete assignments.
Ella’s mom considers her daughter’s transformation a miracle. Before Trillium, Ella saw life in black and white: if she couldn’t get through school and become a physicist, then life wasn’t worth living. Now she sees the gray areas and realizes there are other possibilities. “Trillium has given Ella confidence in a new way of exploring academics.” She’s assisting in a ninth-grade math class and is even considering a future in teaching.
This spring, Ella is graduating. She plans to take college classes part-time before considering a four-year program. Though she still deals with anxiety and perfectionism, the pressure has lifted. “My only regret is that we didn’t start her in a grade lower. I would have liked to give her one more year here.”
At Trillium, students like Ella discover what’s possible when they have the safety to take down their mask, show up authentically, and receive the support and encouragement they desperately need. Here, they find belonging, confidence, and a renewed love of learning. Support Trillium Academy this Giving Tuesday to deepen Trillium’s impact on Seattle’s twice-exceptional students.