News
Real Audiences
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of attending BUA’s annual Concerto Competition. Seven students performed solo pieces with piano accompaniment. Works ranged from Vivaldi, Popper, Glazunov, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Fauré, and Mozart. Our student soloists played the recorder, cello, piano, violin, and flute in front of several dozen friends, faculty, and family members. The performances were stunning; the students’ virtuosity evidenced years of practice, and I love that they chose – entirely voluntarily – to share their talents with this audience. The winner of the competition will perform the piece again, this time accompanied by the full BUA orchestra at our Spring Concert on May 3. There is real power in having students share their work with an audience. Knowing that somebody else will see, hear, appreciate, and learn from your work makes school assignments more than intellectually enriching exercises; they become purposeful in a different way. Our music and theater... More
Gratitude for our Faculty and Staff
With Thanksgiving a few days away, I want to pause to give thanks for the remarkable teachers and staff here at BUA. Every day I am struck by their contagious passion for their subjects; their pedagogical skill and creativity; their work ethic and desire to improve; and, most of all, how well they know these students and how deeply they care for them. These professionals have chosen this path – many having foregone more lucrative careers and ones that carry more status in a society that undervalues educators – because working with young people is a calling. There is tremendous fulfillment, joy, and purpose in helping guide and empower young people at this critical stage in their development. Our faculty and staff are the heart of the school, and I am deeply grateful for them. My hope this holiday season is that you find a moment to say thank you to... More
Veterans Day, Service, and Purpose
BUA classes will not meet tomorrow as we pause to mark Veterans Day as a community. Next week, we will also welcome back alumna Jenny Chen (BUA ‘00), who served for nine years as a physician in the United States Navy in postings around the world. Students will hear about Jenny’s path through BUA, where, like so many, she “found her people” and thrived under the mentorship of loving, inspiring teachers. Jenny will talk about her decision after medical school to serve her country, the fulfillment she found in that service, and how it has prepared her for her role now in emergency medicine as a civilian. I find it helpful for students to hear from graduates like Jenny – people who sat in the same seats – who have found purpose in service to others. For some, that sense of purpose comes through taking care of family or friends; for... More
Sports as Counterculture
On Wednesday, both cross country teams performed well in the finals, capping off a great season filled with personal bests and camaraderie. The boys soccer team won its championship game last night in a hard-fought match against a very good side from Newman School. The girls soccer team plays for the championship this afternoon at the British International School of Boston; our team is hoping for a three-peat, and fan buses are ready to get the community there to support them. The athletic success this fall is a great testament to the kids’ hard work and a lot of fun for the whole community. But what I’m proudest of is the way our sports program is countercultural. We don’t measure the success of our program in wins and trophies. We look at the number of students who are participating. We are proud that many athletes are trying a sport for the... More
BUA Juniors Submit Testimony to Massachusetts Legislature on Student Representation
On Thursday, October 12, Yiannis Asikis '25 and Zeke Kramer '25 traveled to the Massachusetts State House to submit testimony in support of H.474/S.287, an act relative to student representative voting rights. If passed, this bill would empower student representatives as voting members on every town or district school committee in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Yiannis and Zeke are members of the Massachusetts Association of Student Representatives, an organization dedicated to empowering student voices on school committees across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In their testimony, Yiannis and Zeke stated: “as high school students, we are deeply committed to empowering civic engagement in education, and we believe that every student deserves the right to actively participate in shaping their own educational experience. By granting student representatives the power to vote on school committees, we are not merely supporting token representation; we are recognizing our right to influence the decisions that impact our academic... More
Our Exceptional Tour Guides
We are in the heart of admission season, and I want to give a shout-out to our incredible student tour guides. On most days, I greet prospective students and families on tours in the hallway outside my office and get to listen as they walk around the second floor. I hear our tour guides talking about our curriculum, class discussions, homework expectations, BU classes, and the college process. I hear them inviting and answering questions with clarity, candor, and humor. The experience with these tour guides is often a major reason for a family’s decision to join BUA – moved by the tour guides’ maturity, independence, thoughtfulness, wit, and mental agility, and eager to be part of a school filled with students like them. This is one way our students perpetuate the kind, curious culture we try so hard to foster. Parents play a role as well. I often hear from... More
BUA Robotics Team Represented at MA STEM Week Kickoff Event
On Monday, October 16, Boston University Academy's robotics team, the Lobstah Bots, represented BUA at the MA STEM Week Kickoff event hosted by Boston University at the Center for Computing & Data Sciences. The event featured remarks by Massachusetts Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll; Massachusetts Secretary of Education Dr. Patrick Tutwiler; and Boston University Provost ad interim Dr. Kenneth Lutchen. At the kickoff event, the BUA robotics team demonstrated one of their robots as part of the STEM exhibits on display, and also met with New England FIRST robotics director Michael Fantom and a reporter from WBZ radio. Says Lobstah Bots team captain George Baltus '24, "We were really happy for the opportunity to attend the event and continue to find more new ways to contribute to our Boston community!" A collaboration of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education and the STEM Advisory Council, STEM Week is an annual statewide effort to boost the... More
Happy Kids
On October 5, we welcomed nearly 150 BUA parents and guardians to our first-ever State of the School event. It was a beautiful moment of connection – families from over 50 cities and towns enjoying the company of the teachers who are folk heroes around their dinner tables and other parents whose children they hear so much about. We are excited to make this an annual tradition. Please enjoy these pictures from the event. I told a story about my recent phone conversation with a parent of a BUA graduate. She was telling me about her daughter’s experience in college – adjusting to a new environment and navigating her newfound independence. I was telling her about our three-year-old’s first few weeks at school – getting used to the routine, getting to know his teachers, making friends. In the end, we both landed in the same place: what we want – the... More
BUA Seniors Earn National Merit Honors
Thirty-seven percent of the Boston University Academy Class of 2024 received recognition in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program competition. The competition honors the nation’s scholastic champions and recognizes exceptional academic promise in high school seniors nationwide. Twenty current BUA seniors were named National Merit Commended Scholars. Out of these 20 Commended Scholars, six BUA seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists, placing them among the top 1% of all US high school seniors who entered the competition. Over 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The nationwide pool of Semifinalists includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Semifinalists will have the opportunity to compete for one of 2,500 National Merit $25,000 Scholarships. National Merit Scholar finalists will be announced in February of 2024. One member of the BUA Class of 2025 received College Board National Recognition Program honors by scoring in... More
Holding Doors
I noticed one of our students holding the door for her classmates on several occasions during our opening days. She did it without fanfare or hesitation. Everybody who passed through the door said thank you. And then one of them held the next door for the group further down the hallway. I like to imagine that this door-holding behavior was contagious and lasted all day! Whenever I see a small moment of kindness – holding a door, picking up a piece of trash, showing a visitor where to go – I make sure to take the student aside and thank them for doing the right thing. Small moments like that inspire others in the community. They spread joy. And, most importantly, those habits build character – which, in the end, is what we care most about.