News
BUA Students Honored for Contributions in Community Service
Ryan Song '26 and Cici Ye '27 received 2026 Community Service Awards from the Parents Independent School Network (PIN) for their work in Endoscope Repair, Delivery, and Demonstration to CHUK (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali) and the Youth Heritage Bridge Project, respectively. The PIN Community Service Awards recognize "compassion, courage, and enthusiasm responding to the needs of others" and spotlights projects that "show the world how to create community through caring in action." Congratulations, Ryan and Cici on this honor!
NYT Puzzle Editor Will Shortz to Deliver Commencement Keynote Address
Boston University Academy is thrilled to share that legendary New York Times Puzzle Editor and renowned enigmatologist Will Shortz will deliver the commencement keynote address at BUA's 32nd graduation exercise on Monday, May 18, 2026. In true BUA fashion, this year's speaker was revealed one across and one down at a time, in a bespoke commencement crossword by BUA junior Harry Wieand '27, a leader of BUA's Puzzle Club. Think you can crack it? Try your hand at the commencement crossword here!
A Teacher Affects Eternity
The coming days will be exciting ones for the whole school and include chances to celebrate the Class of 2026: Senior Thesis Symposium, Senior Art Show, Senior Dinner, Field Day, Senior Week events, Prom, and Commencement a week from Monday. While these goodbyes are bittersweet, we are looking forward to being together. Over the weekend, more than 100 BUA alumni, parents, parents of graduates, faculty, and staff gathered to mark an important milestone: Dr. Jim Davis’s 30th year at the school. It was a beautiful testament to the remarkable impact a teacher can have. We heard from three graduates who told stories about how Dr. Davis lit a lifelong passion for history and philosophy; transformed their writing; and gave them the tools to see through spurious arguments from others and make strong ones themselves. They described seeking him out for comfort and advice when navigating the emotional ups and downs of... More
Entrepreneurial Spirit
I’m just back from a few days in San Francisco visiting BUA alums. The visit bolstered an impression I’ve been forming over the years: entrepreneurs and innovators are overrepresented in our alumni community. At first, this felt surprising, particularly for an East Coast school without a business focus and whose curriculum is proudly and intentionally rooted in the classical tradition. But on quick second thought, it makes sense. The students who choose BUA tend to come to us with an independent streak and accelerate down that path because of their experience here: the commute on public transportation; exploring the city with friends after school; choosing and navigating BU classes; developing and executing a senior thesis. Many of them not only lead but also start new clubs (some of which take off, some of which don’t), which is something we encourage and is likely the reason why we have 50+ clubs... More
BUA Earns Accolades at Clark Model UN Conference
On March 28, 16 BUA students attended ClarkMUN, a Model United Nations conference hosted by Clark University in Worcester. They engaged in debate on a variety of topics, ranging from the collapse of the Arab Spring to capitalist exploitation in the popular video game Animal Crossing. Four delegates received awards in their various committees: Best Delegate: Nikki Hadar '27 Outstanding Delegate: Em Dobre '29 Outstanding Delegate: Clair Wang '28 Honorable Mention: Aanya Chakravarthy '27 Congratulations to the whole team on their impressive showing!
Ethics Bowl Season Recap
This year marked an exciting milestone for BUA's Ethics Bowl program: for the first time, we fielded two teams — and both had a lot to be proud of. Our newly-established second team made their debut at TKE's Ethical Olympiad on April 11, finishing 24th out of 34 teams from across the nation. For a group of freshmen and sophomores competing on the national stage for the first time, this is a especially impressive result. The team — Em Dobre '29, Bronwen Hay '28, and Jaina Mukherji '29 — was led by senior Nick Kohl '26, who deserves special recognition for stepping up to mentor and guide them through their first competition. Our first Ethics Bowl team, meanwhile, had a historic weekend at the National Championship Bowl, hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Parr Center for Ethics on April 10-12. BUA was one of just 22 finalists from a... More
Opening Doors
One of my deepest hopes and commitments is to make sure this school is accessible to exceptionally kind and curious students around the Boston area regardless of their family’s financial situation. I am proud that over the last six admissions cycles, including this one, BUA has been in a position not to have a financial aid wait list; every student we thought should be here was admitted, and we provided the need-based financial aid that they qualified for. BUA is rare in that regard. Typically in schools like ours, financial aid budgets cover some but not all of the applicants whom the school would like to admit. Because of the choices we make in our budget every year and due to the tremendous generosity of our parent and alumni donors, we have been able to keep BUA’s doors open to the most deserving students. Financial accessibility is the first priority in... More
Across Cultures and Continents: BUA Global Travel 2026
Over March break, 28 students and 6 adults traveled to Andalucía, Spain and New Orleans as part of BUA's Global Travel Program. In Spain, students explored the cultural, religious, and linguistic cross-pollination of the region through visits to Islamic mosques, Catholic cathedrals, Jewish quarters, and spectacular palaces built during the height of Muslim rule in southern Spain. Students observed exquisitely-preserved examples of Islamic geometric forms at the Alhambra and Alcázar palaces, and then had the opportunity to recreate their own at plaster and tiling workshops. The group took in a flamenco performance and then tried their hand at the form at a dance lesson later in the trip. In New Orleans, students explored how art, music, and culture shape identity and belonging and engaged with themes of creativity, resilience, and social justice through visits to the Lower Ninth Ward and the Whitney Plantation. They dove into the roots of blues and jazz with a workshop led by... More
BUA Slam Poets Impress at Teen Spoken Word Festival
On March 28, BUA's first-ever slam poetry team — Petra Jones-McKeon '27, Tessa Rice '28, Dora Mou '27, and Jack Despujols '28 — took the stage at Mass Poetry's Teen Spoken Word Festival at Emerson College. At their debut performance, one of the team's poems earned some of the highest marks of the competition. Congratulations to all four poets on a remarkable first outing!
Who Our Graduates Become
For all in the BUA community who marked the end of Ramadan last week, we hope that you enjoyed a blessed and happy time with your families. Eid Mubarak. Thank you to the members of our Middle Eastern and North African Student Association (MENASA) for organizing a community potluck celebration this evening. I’m just back from two days in New York visiting alumni from across the three decades of BUA’s history. It is inspiring to see the people our alums have become. We heard stories from our college-aged alums at Columbia, NYU, and Barnard about the advanced coursework they are taking, the research and internships they are engaged in, and the ways that their experiences at BUA and BU help them make the most out of their new homes. Alums in the working world represent a wide range of pursuits: law, pharmaceuticals, technology, finance, consulting, academia, medicine, music, public service, and... More