News
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!
Beyond the Classroom in Spain and New Orleans
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... More
BUA Athletes Earn All-League Honors in Basketball
Congratulations to our student athletes selected for All-League Honors, as well as their coaches, teammates, and parents for helping them achieve this recognition for the BUA athletics program: GIL Girls Basketball All-League Selections Lisa Zhou '26 Lauren Sadka '26 Skye Connor '28 Lizzie Elliott '26 (Honorable Mention) Savannah Conway '28 (Honorable Mention) GIL MVP: Skye Connor '28 MBIL Division II Boys Basketball All-League Selections Giorgos Asikis '26 Nathan Capellan '28 Jack Conway '26 Vir Mehta '26 (Honorable Mention) Mason Chung '27 (Honorable Mention) MBIL Division II MVP: Giorgos Asikis '26
Math Teacher Zane Ranney Presents at Math in Action Conference
On February 28, math teacher Zane Ranney presented at the Math in Action conference hosted at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. Mr. Ranney's presentation, entitled "Reimagining Secondary Mathematics: A Problems-Based, Integrated Approach," built on his experience implementing BUA's new problem-based math curriculum, and offered participants an opportunity to solve sample problems in small groups, engage in student-centered discussions, and leave with practical strategies for implementing integrated sequences and designing problems for conceptual understanding in their classrooms.
BUA Students Curate Art Exhibition as part of Boston Lunar New Year Gala
On February 15, Boston City Hall hosted its 4th-annual Boston Lunar New Year Spring Gala. BUA juniors Dora Mou '27 and Cici Ye '27 were invited to curate an art exhibition within the gala, and put together a show entitled "Identity in Transformation" featuring artworks from 40 young artists, including several from BUA -- Dora Mou '27, Cici Ye '27, and Maya Chen '28 -- as well as from schools in Reading, Weston, and Brookline. The show was on display within and outside of Boston City Hall and showcased the diversity of Asian American arts and culture. Congratulations to Dora and Cici on this impressive undertaking!
Bringing Your Full Self to School
To all of our families celebrating the Lunar New Year, we wish you health and happiness. It was lovely to celebrate with so many of you on Thursday at the event organized by the students in the East Asian Student Association (EASA) and their families. I extend warm wishes to our Muslim families who mark the start of Ramadan this week and am grateful to the students in our Middle Eastern and North African Student Association (MENASA) for decorating the lobby and greeting their classmates there this morning with dates and other sweet treats. For some of our families, this time marks the start of the Lent, with Ash Wednesday falling just a few days ago. I was glad to see students in the halls having received ashes on their foreheads earlier in the day. The way our students marked this confluence of cultural and religious moments – and many... More
BUA Ethics Bowl Team Wins MA Annual High School Bowl
This week, the BUA Ethics Bowl Team competed at -- and won! -- the Annual High School Ethics Bowl at Tufts University. This year's team is comprised of Hana Kaneko ' 27, Geneva Kelleher '27, Leone Levi D'Ancona '27, Leo Barabasi '27, Margaret Brown '28, and Tessa Rice '28, and is coached by Dr. Jim Davis. The team not only won this year's bowl but went undefeated through five rounds of competition against schools including BB&N, Philips Academy, the Winsor School, and Deerfield Academy -- a testament to all their hard work and preparation. Among the questions discussed were “should courts permit AI-generated victim statements” and “does offering sentence reductions in exchange for organs count as coercion in a prison context”? The team now goes to the regional competition. If they win this round, it's off to nationals in Chapel Hill. Kudos to all on an impressive competition!
Lyahnnette Morales ’27 Crowned Miss Boston’s Teen 2026
Last weekend, Lyahnnette Morales '27 was crowned Miss Boston’s Teen 2026, earning the opportunity to represent the city of Boston at Miss Massachusetts’ Teen on June 18 at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester, MA, and advance toward the national Miss America’s Teen stage through the Miss America Opportunity, the nation’s leading tuition-only scholarship organization for young women. She received top honors across every competition category, including Interview, On-Stage Question, Fitness, and Evening Gown, and earned additional awards and recognition as Boston’s Choice, Overall Talent Winner, and Miss Boston’s Teen Titleholder. A World Silver Medalist with the USA Tap Team, Lyahnnette has represented the United States on international stages and built a distinguished performance career rooted in excellence, discipline, and artistry. She also appeared as a featured dancer in the major motion picture Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, highlighting her versatility as a performer. Lyahnnette plans to use her platform as Miss... More
Courtside Pride
We had an exciting afternoon yesterday. The boys and girls basketball teams both won their championship games, which we hosted in our gym. They were tight games against great opponents. The kids on the court battled hard, and both BUA teams came back from deficits to win. The sidelines were packed with students, faculty staff, and parents – all cheering up a storm. My voice is still a little hoarse! Some students were even nice enough to teach me a new cheer along the way: “Our team is red hot . . . .” The experience on the sidelines made me so grateful to be at BUA and captured some of the things that make this place special. Students turned out to support their friends, perhaps partially motivated by the Raising Cane’s chicken fingers and fries, but also clearly there out of love for their friends in the game. The cheering... More
Mentors
I’m writing from a conference of heads of school from leading independent schools around the country. Among the roughly 100 attendees are a half-dozen heads – some active, some retired – whom I am lucky to call mentors. Two are former supervisors, and the rest are people I’ve met along the way. They all, at some point, took an interest in my growth and are now always a phone call away when I need advice – and am smart enough to reach out. I feel enormously lucky to have them in my corner. Last week, I had a call with a former student I taught years ago. She graduated from college recently, is in her second year in a new job in New York City, and wanted to talk about what’s next for her education and career. I hope that I was helpful in some small way. And I was... More