News
BUA, BU Hosts NASA Downlink from International Space Station
On July 20, more than 500 middle- and high-school students and educators from across eastern Massachusetts descended on Boston University's campus for a day of space exploration and STEM education in the form of hands-on activities, lab and observatory tours, and presentations with BU faculty. Many of those in attendance were affiliated with local access and enrichment programs including Alexander Twilight Academy (a BUA partner), Upward Bound, the Calculus Project, and GROW (Greater Boston Area Research Opportunities for Young Women), among others. In the BUA gym, students built rockets out of film canisters, water, and Alka-Seltzer tablets; attempted to move a balloon along a length of fishing line in a fly-by-wire design challenge; and even had the opportunity to hold pieces of the moon and Mars, courtesy of the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum. Several BUA student and teacher volunteers were on hand to assist with the activities. The highlight of the... More
Class of 2022 Matriculation List
As our most recent graduates head off for the summer, we wish them the very best of luck on the next step of their journeys at college and beyond. From California to Canada, down the block and across the Atlantic, and many places in between, the BUA Class of 2022 is making their mark on the world. Check out the matriculation list below to see where they're headed this fall. We couldn't be prouder of you, Class of 2022. Send us a postcard, and don't forgot to stop by for a visit when you're in town -- you'll always have a home at BUA! Members of the the Class of 2022 will attend the following institutions in the fall: Boston University (13) Bowdoin College Brown University University of Chicago (2) Colorado College Cornell University (2) University of Florida Hamilton College Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3) University of Michigan-Ann Arbor New York University (3) Northeastern University (4) Princeton University (2) Queen’s University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2) Rhode Island... More
Revs. Ray and Gloria Hammond Deliver Keynote Address at BUA Commencement
On Monday, May 23, Boston University Academy hosted its 28th commencement exercise at BU's Tsai Performance Center. The 45 members of the BUA Class of 2022 crossed the stage to receive their diplomas from Boston University Provost and Chief Academic Officer Jean Morrison and BUA Head of School Chris Kolovos. Dustin Zhang '22 and Henry Chuang '22 recited the Classics orations in Latin and Greek, respectively. Mell Aguiar '22 and Tanay Nambiar '22 delivered the student addresses. Following the ceremony, graduates and their families celebrated with a reception under the tent on BU Beach. Reverend Dr. Ray Hammond and Reverend Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, co-pastors of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, jointly delivered this year's Commencement keynote address. The Hammonds, partners both in life and work, are pillars of social justice and community activism in Boston. Ray Hammond and Gloria White-Hammond co-founded Bethel A.M.E. Church in Boston's Jamaica Plain. The son... More
BUA Junior Wins First Place at Harvard Global Health & Leader Conference
BUA junior Aditya Venkatesh '23 presented a proposal entitled "Learning to Love Learning: A Positive Feedback Loop Approach to Combating Procrastination" at Harvard's Global Health and Leader Conference on April 23-24 as part of the Community Pitch Competition, in which students research and design a health-related project that they want to implement in their home communities. Aditya's pitch, which focused on the topic of procrastinative behaviors in middle- and high-school students, won first place. Aditya hopes to implement research-based methods to combat procrastination, including meditation and mindfulness techniques, in schools and in greater Boston communities at large. The proposal stems from an article Aditya wrote in his freshman year at BUA entitled "Understanding procrastination through action control," which was a top 50 winner of the Harvard College Undergraduate Research Association (HCURA)'s Brevia Research Writing Competition. Aditya writes: "This project is very near and dear to my heart. I started thinking about this project... More
HOS Blog: Kids Being Kids
Yesterday’s afternoon all-school trip to the Red Sox game was just what we needed. Several teachers and I were seated a few rows in front of the students. I spent much of my time looking up at them rather than at the field. Some of that had to do with the fact that my brother is the big baseball fan in the family and that I tend to zone out after a few innings. The bigger reason, though, was that I was just so happy to be watching our kids being kids: eating hot dogs and ice cream; laughing; singing along to Sweet Caroline; dancing in their seats; cheering on the Sox despite the scoreboard; and clearly loving being together in the fresh air. It all felt so normal. When you combine the exigencies of the past few years with the typical challenges students take on in a school like this, More
Music Instructor Dr. Brett Abigana Builds BUA its Own Organ
Over the past many months, BUA Music Instructor Dr. Brett Abigaña has been toiling away in his basement, building BUA its very own organ -- a thing of beauty and a true labor of love. In a note to the BUA community on April 29, Dr. Abigaña wrote: "We have a lot of very cool stuff here at BUA. But if there was one instrument we’ve never had but could really use, it was an organ. In the past, we would have spring concerts at Marsh Chapel, and we were lucky enough to use their beautiful Casavant organ. But we have since outgrown that space, and have found ourselves limited by not having access to a large organ we could call our own. So when the pandemic shut the music room doors, I decided I’d use the time to our advantage, and two years later, BUA is the proud owner of... More
BUA Welcomes Robert O’Rourke as Next Director of College Counseling
In an April 28 letter to the BUA community, Head of School Chris Kolovos announced the appointment of Robert O'Rourke as BUA's next director of college counseling. He writes: After a highly competitive nationwide search, I’m delighted to announce that Mr. Robert O’Rourke will be joining BUA as our next Director of College Counseling beginning in July. Mr. O’Rourke comes to us from Groton School, where he has served as Associate Director of College Counseling since 2014, partnering with hundreds of students and families in the college process and forming deep connections with colleges and universities around the country and overseas. He has also made it a point to be deeply engaged in the broader school culture, serving as the Director of Community Engagement with oversight of the school's service initiatives; leading global education trips to the Dominican Republic, India, and South Africa; and teaching an Ethics course to seniors. Before... More
HOS Blog: The Most Rigorous Work a High Schooler Can Do
This is the week when our seniors present their senior thesis projects. Through their year-long studies, they have explored topics ranging from the housing crisis to haptic assistive technology; bessel beams to the resource curse; quantum mechanics to playwriting; white dwarf systems to reaganomics. They have written well researched, compelling, and sometimes publishable papers on those topics, and presented to their peers, advisors, and families. And they have definitively answered the question of what is the most rigorous work a high school student can do. Our job as educators is to prepare students for their futures, not our past. The senior thesis does that; the skills a student masters to produce this kind of work are the skills that they will need to be productive, successful, and impactful in college, in the workplace, and in their communities: identifying not just an area of passion, but a problem worth solving or issue worth exploring; developing... More
BUA Junior Wins Inaugural Antonis Fragoudakis Memorial Award
Boston University's Department of Classical Studies named BUA junior Emmanuel Smirnakis '23 the inaugural winner of the Antonis Fragoudakis Memorial Award. The award, established in 2022 and funded by a generous gift from Prof. Roselita Fragoudakis in memory of her father, will be given out annually to a student who demonstrates outstanding achievement in the study of Modern Greek language and culture at Boston University. Read more about the award here. Mega kudos to Emmanuel on this remarkable achievement.
Celebrating BUA’s Global Community at Be Together Event
On Friday, April 8, over 200 students, parents, siblings, faculty, and staff gathered in a transformed BUA gym to for the school's first in-person community event in over two years! Families contributed a wealth of dishes from all over the globe, from Chinese moon cakes and Ethiopian injera, to Lebanese kishk pies and Norwegian lefse. Performances included Bollywood dance, songs from the BUA Music Fusion Club, Greek folk music from Head of School Chris Kolovos and his father, Demetrios Kolovos, and more! It was so wonderful to be together once again, and we look forward to making this event an annual tradition. Thank you to all the volunteers and performers who provided their time, talent, and the many delicious treats! View a photo gallery of the Be Together event here.