The Western Boarding Schools Association is a consortium of the strongest boarding schools located in the western regions of the United States and Canada.
Member schools are accredited, non-profit, and independent elementary, middle, and/or secondary boarding schools with academic college-preparatory programs. They span thirteen western states and four Canadian provinces: Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, together with British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta.
WBSA member schools partner together to promote the incredible benefits of western boarding through a shared website, social media, boarding school panels, and admission fairs.
What we do
Partnership with purpose
The annual gathering
Spring Conference & Retreat
Members of WBSA gather each year for the annual spring conference, typically held in late April or early May.
This opportunity for professional development focuses on trends and best practices within both boarding and university-level admission departments. It also builds the relationships that make the association strong.
Leadership
WBSA Steering Committee
Amanda Milholland
Associate Director of Admissions at Dunn School
Entering her 12th year at Dunn School, Amanda serves as Associate Director of Admissions, partnering with her admissions team on domestic and international recruitment initiatives while supporting the development of the school’s enrollment and marketing strategies. In addition to her admissions work, Amanda serves as a dorm head, advisor, and Spirit Committee Chair, reflecting her deep commitment to student life and community engagement. Known for her exceptional organization, collaborative leadership, and positive energy, she values partnerships across independent schools.
Amanda is particularly dedicated to advancing the mission of the Western Boarding Schools Association (WBSA) and is committed to expanding its programs and opportunities for member schools. Drawing on more than a decade of admissions leadership, she is committed to strengthening WBSA's programs, fostering meaningful partnerships among member schools, and expanding opportunities for collaboration and professional growth.
Chris Anderson
Admissions Associate for Boarding at Oregon Episcopal School
Chris is in his sixth year as the Admissions Associate for Boarding at Oregon Episcopal School, anchoring a 23-year career across universities, international schools, and independent schools. Born, raised, and educated in the West—alongside formative years teaching, counseling, and coaching in South Korea and Vietnam—Chris is proud to call this place "home." He brings a record of regional advocacy to WBSA, previously serving as the Chair of Study Oregon, where he brought together competing higher education institutions for collective branding. As a proud OES parent who knows firsthand how special our schools are, Chris aims to continue expanding professional development opportunities and advance the West's visibility as a destination for boarding students.
Trish Collins
Director of International Enrollment at Stevenson School
Trish serves as Stevenson School’s Director of International Enrollment, Senior Associate Director of Admissions, SEVIS Primary Designated School Official, and a student advisor. As an admissions professional for over twenty years, thirteen of which she’s spent at Stevenson, her experience also includes three years working in admissions and the dorms at Santa Catalina School and four years recruiting for her alma mater, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD BFA Painting ‘04). She lives in Seaside with (in no particular order) her golden retriever Roux, tortoiseshell cat Pickle, husband James, and their gregarious and precocious son Finnegan, who is a currently enrolled Stevenson Pirate, Class of 2035. Some of Trish’s favorite moments at Stevenson center around the annual faculty/staff flashmob, which she leads. Outside the office, Trish is a painter, a tap dancer, and a dedicated linguaphile, with a Duolingo streak of more than six years in 17 languages and counting. This comes in handy as she travels the world connecting with Stevenson Pirates past, present, and future. Having now spent an equal amount of years in California and Pennsylvania, Trish is fully convinced “the West Coast is the Best Coast.” (However, she will forever remain a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan and is raising her California-born son to follow suit. Go Birds.)
Yocelin S. González
Dean of Enrollment at The Athenian School
As an admission professional and diversity practitioner for over fifteen years, her school experience includes Northfield Mount Hermon, Miss Porter’s School, The Hotchkiss School, The Buckley School in Los Angeles and The Meadowbrook School of Weston. Through the years, Yocelin’s work has been dedicated to the recruitment and retention of students of color as well as the development and implementation of equity and inclusion programs at the K-12 level. As the Director of Community Partnerships and Admission Outreach at The Meadowbrook School of Weston, Yocelin’s main objectives were to continue to help in the effort of creating a diverse student body as well as take part in the development of curriculum focused on identity development and anti-racist and anti-biased work. She currently serves as the Director of Enrollment Management at The Athenian School.
At a national level, Yocelin is part of the founding committee for People of Color in Admission and the DEIJ Think Tank for the Enrollment Management Association, has formed part of the faculty leading the National Association of Independent School’s Student Diversity Leadership Conference and served as Director of the Multicultural Teaching Institute.
Kirk Gossman
Director of Admission & Financial Aid at Woodside Priory School
Kirk Gossman is the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Woodside Priory School. In addition to his admissions role, he also serves as a high school advisor. Prior to joining Woodside Priory, Kirk served as the Director of Admissions and Matriculation at Trinity School in Menlo Park after many years in commercial property management. Outside of the office, Kirk enjoys hiking the beautiful trails of Portola Valley, running, and spending quality time with his family.
Bridgette Rappoport
Director of Admission at Delphian School
Bridgette serves as the Director of Admission and a member of the senior management team at Delphian School in Sheridan, Oregon. Her deep roots in West Coast independent education began in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, where she spent over a decade working with day schools. In 2016, she returned to her alma mater, Delphian, to join their admissions team. Today, Bridgette leads domestic and international recruitment for both summer and academic-year programs, serves as an upper school advisor, and champions proficiency-based learning models and the value of a boarding school education. Passionate about community leadership, she also sits on two local non-profit committees in McMinnville. Bridgette lives in Oregon with her husband and two kids, and when she isn’t cheering on Delphian’s competitive sports teams or choir, you can find her cooking, catching live music, or exploring the Pacific Northwest.
Chris Thaeler
Director of Enrollment and CIO at Army and Navy Academy
Chris Thaeler's career in information technology spanned the private sector and non-profits, including Urban Street Angels, one of San Diego's foremost charities assisting transition-age unhoused youth. He serves as Army and Navy Academy's Director of Enrollment, but manages the school's information technology needs as its Chief Information Officer. As an alumnus of the Academy, Chris is driven by a desire to see a new generation of scholar-athletes benefit from the extraordinary, game-changing opportunity that Army and Navy Academy embodies. He has two dogs and is frequently on the verge of disowning one or the other.
Interested in membership?
We'd love to hear from boarding schools across the West that share our standards and mission.