Staff
Becky BombgardnerStudent Services Administrative Assistant
Becky has been with Idyllwild Arts since February 2006. She has a daughter who is at Cal State Long Beach and a son who is an alum of Idyllwild Arts. She has lived in Idyllwild for 23 years.
John Newman
Dean of Students
John brings fourteen years of experience in private school education to the dean’s office at Idyllwild Arts Academy. As a teacher, coach, advisor, and administrator, John has committed his professional life to working with young people in private schools.
John was named Dean of Students in 2006 after serving as Associate Dean of Students and Humanities Department faculty at IAA beginning in 2003, during which time he taught Honors Senior English, American Literature, Classics of Western Civilization, and a senior elective in Contemporary Poetry. John has been a dorm parent, a dorm head, and a judicial committee chair; he was an active contributor to the school’s Scheduling Committee that designed and helped implement the modified block schedule adopted by the school in 2005. He continues to work closely with the IAA faculty, staff and administration to inspire a community committed to positive personal growth. He co-founded the Idyllwild Arts Academy Honor Council in 2005 and serves as its advisor.
His love for boarding school life began when he was a student at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT, where he graduated in 1991 with honors in music. John is a Master of Science candidate at Quinnipiac University School of Business. He earned his BA from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA where he was active in the arts. John was also the top singles and doubles player for Bucknell’s men’s varsity tennis team, which he captained in his senior year. He has been a professional jazz musician throughout his life and continues to enjoy sitting in with students at IAA. John lives on campus with his wife, Molly Newman and their daughters, Lucy and Cecelia.
Kevin Sullivan
Associate Dean of Students
Kevin Michael Sullivan is a native of and still calls Providence, RI home. He is, and has been since the summer of '04, the Director of Residential Life at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick, ME. Kevin has taught and been a dorm parent at Lyndon Institute and Oakwood Friends School and also taught at Providence College, The Moses Brown School, and was Composer in Residence at West Warwick High School ('96,'99). In March 2004 Kevin was a Guest Artist at the Beijing Contemporary Music Institute, China.
As a composer Kevin's work has been performed in a wide variety of venues including Jordan Hall; The RI School of Design Film Festival (1995 and 1997); Brown University; The Public Broadcasting System; live on WCDB 91.3fm, Albany, NY; The New England Collegiate Dance Festival; The International Festival of Street Performers, Halifax, Nova Scotia and CBGB's NYC. Kevin has appeared in ensembles and as a soloist throughout the United States, China, Canada, the Bahamas and Europe. In 2001 Kevin had the honor of performing with legendary pianist Cecil Taylor.
Kevin's articles and reviews have been published in Sonus: The Journal of Global Musical Possibility, The NICEPAPER and The Pawtucket Times.
M.M. in Music Theory, B.M. in Jazz Studies (composition) studio instruction with Pozzi Escot, Hankus Netsky and William Thomas McKinley, New England Conservatory of Music; Studies at the Community College of RI (Music and Jazz Studies); Extensive private study with Hal Crook
Shannon Jacobs
Student Life and Leadership Coordinator
Shannon L. Jacobs, MA, NCAC, originally hails from the Pacific Northwest. She received her Bachelors Degree in Cultural Geography from Southern Oregon University in 1996. Shannon has a diverse array of professional expertise, ranging from work with both youths and adults with the wilderness expeditionary school “Outward Bound.” It was also with Outward Bound that Shannon received her Florida State teaching credential, and for a number of years taught special student population in the wilds of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Shannon has a wealth of experience working with adults, teens and youths who struggle with chemical dependency, utilizing her additional credential as a Nationally Certified Addictions Counselor (NCAC). Shannon, more recently has begun working with individuals diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Shannon received her Masters Degree from Prescott College in Counseling Psychology with an additional emphasis in Adventure-Based Psychotherapy in 2009. Shannon is a world traveler and is passionate about experiencing the diversity of other cultures. Shannon joined the counseling department at Idyllwild Arts Academy in September of 2010.
Becky Sandlin
Health Center Coordinator and Lead RN
Experience in healthcare: 33 years. Bachelors in nursing, California State, San Bernardino; Masters in nursing, California State, Dominguez Hills. Hobbies: Needle arts and flameworking. Becky has been professionally fulfilled in her 9 years at Idyllwild Arts and is looking toward many more.
Debbie Paris
Health Center Administrative Assistant
Debbie has 30 years experience as an Administrative Assistant (25 of those years with private boarding schools). She has worked at Idyllwild Arts for the past 15 years and is most happy to be a part of the Health Center team.
Cassaundra Dunbridge
On-Call Nurse
Cassaundra graduated from University of San Francisco in registered nursing with emphasis in patient teaching. Experience: 8 years, emergency, orthopedic surgery, and school nurse. Hobbies: raising two little boys, pedestrian cook and baker, and writing juvenille children stories. Currently working on her second year at Idyllwild Arts and looking forward to helping the kids stay healthy in the years ahead.
Lori Ferro
Emergency Medical Technician
Lori Ferro joined the Idyllwild Arts family in 2010 as an Emergency Medical Technician with over ten years of previous school nursing experience and has worked as a lifeguard/swim instructor in the Idyllwild community since moving to Idyllwild from San Diego in 1999. In addition to working full-time in the Idyllwild Arts Health Center, Lori helps her husband, Frank Ferro, manage Café Aroma. Frank and Lori have four children: Christina, Michael, Blythe (IAA Class of 2009), and Emily (IAA Class of 2014).
Holiday Eames
Student Counselor
Holiday Eames moved from VT with her husband, Brian D. Cohen, the new president of Idyllwild Arts. She is currently a candidate for a Masters in Applied Psychology at Antioch University New England in 2012. No stranger to boarding schools, she began teaching at The Hoosac School in Hoosick, NY in the early 80’s and finished her third year living in a freshman boys’ dormitory at The Putney School last year. In 2011 she counseled high school boarding students in Putney, VT and taught meditation and life skills classes. Previously she worked in a drug and alcohol partial hospitalization program for co-occurring disorders at The Retreat in Brattleboro, VT. Her background is in music and her undergraduate degree is from Bennington College in composition. She and Brian met in the local orchestra and they continue to enjoy playing chamber music together. They have a son, David, in 4th grade and three grown girls, Eve, Caitlin and Taylor, all in graduate school.
Jackie Rechtfertig
Medication Nurse
Cara Wilkerson
Student Counselor
Cara graduated in 2005, Suma Cum Laude, from California State University San Marcos, with a Bachelor degree in Psychology and a minor in Criminology. In 2008, she graduated with a Master degree in Counseling Psychology from California Baptist University, specializing in Marriage and Family Therapy. Cara began working in the field in 2004. She has experience working to rehabilitate sex offenders; working with emotionally challenged and mentally handicapped adolescents; working in the field of substance abuse, dependence, and recovery; working with victims and perpetrators of abuse; victims of sexual abuse; trauma; and working as a school counselor. In the above fields she has worked with individuals, couples, family and groups. Cara has been employed with Idyllwild Arts Academy since August 2007.
Margaret Gray
Resource Center/Learning Specialist
B.A. The Arts and Social Change, University of Redlands, Johnston Center, Honors in Visual Art; coursework towards CA teaching credential, special education emphasis, Cal Lutheran University.
Margaret, former IAA adjunct ceramics instructor, is pleased to return to IAA in the capacity of Learning Specialist and dorm parent. Margaret spent the past three years in Los Angeles and Ventura, working for the cultural programs department of the Library Foundation of L.A. and teaching elementary students at Montessori Center School. She also completed initial coursework for her California teaching credential with an emphasis in special education. In addition to working with clay, Margaret loves spending time hiking, surfing, rock climbing and practicing yoga. She hopes to help students bring together their passion for the arts with a strong academic foundation.
Daniel Gray
Physical Education Coordinator
Daniel Gray is a graduate of the Idyllwild Arts Academy class of 1997. He received a BA in Multi-Media Studies from the Johnston Center at the University of Redlands where he combined Visual Art, Music and Business. He taught ceramics at Idyllwild Arts from 2004-2006 and returned in 2009 after working for a national audiovisual company.
Transportation:
Tucker McIntyre
Transportation Manager