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!
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
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
Engaging Meaningfully Beyond BUA
We are just hours away from spring break! I wish our faculty, staff, students, and families some well deserved rest, fun, and connection. 28 of our students will spend a portion of their breaks traveling with their teachers and classmates. One group is headed for a cultural and historical exploration of southern Spain, with a healthy dose of geometry weaved in as they investigate architecture. Another will dive into the art and music of New Orleans. In June, a third group will take advantage of the warmer weather for a trip to Iceland engaged in geology and climate science while enjoying some outdoor adventure. These are not sightseeing trips. We have designed a series of traveling classrooms where young people can do in-depth, place-based work under the guidance of faculty experts. Yesterday afternoon, on a cold gray day, about a dozen BUA students piled into a van and headed off to a... 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