Last year, several students teamed up with our admission officers to record video information sessions for prospective students and families — not an unusual move, particularly when the pandemic made campus visits complicated. The wrinkle? They recorded those sessions in Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese — four languages commonly spoken in our students’ homes. Inclusion requires action. It is necessary, […]
I taught American history for many years, and every fall at about this time we would have a debate in class about whether we should continue celebrating Columbus Day or rename that holiday in some way (I assured students that either way there would still be a day off from school — anticipating their most […]
“I’m just not good at art.” How many of us have said, thought, or heard that at some point in our lives? Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of visiting three art classes. I watched students in first-year visual art working on contour drawings of simple objects stacked on their tables. A dozen ninth […]
It’s time to rethink the student participation grade. Every three weeks, our teachers gather after classes for professional learning meetings — a chance for us to share ideas, learn from one another, and improve our practice, all in the interest of serving our students better. The topic for this week’s meeting was student participation. What […]
I begin most days standing outside the front doors of the schoolhouse greeting students. Some are just getting off the train, some emerging from their parents’ cars, others hopping off bikes or skateboards. Everybody gets a “good morning,” and sometimes students pause for a little conversation — a chance for a student to tell me […]
Seniors in May sometimes share with us that their parents start behaving particularly oddly. They tear up for no obvious reason, unearth baby pictures, tell stories about their senior’s elementary school years, or try to renew old family traditions like board game nights! Seniors are also processing the same looming transition. Some cling to home […]
What will school look like next year? Will things go back to normal? What will be the new normal? I am proud of the way this community has managed the pandemic. Our commitment to maximizing in-person learning has been based on a fundamental belief that kids learn and grow best when they are able to […]
On Monday afternoon, the BUA community gathered — some in the black box theater and many others on Zoom — for one of this school’s great traditions. Twelve students from across the grades stood up in front of their peers to deliver Latin and Greek declamations, channeling Homer, Solon, Sophocles, Cicero, Catulus, Livy, Virgil, Ovid, […]
We have just wrapped up a historic year in admissions. Our applications were up 30% from last year’s all-time high, which put us in a position to be more selective in our admissions process than ever before. Our yield — the rate at which accepted students enroll at BUA — was also at its highest […]
Earlier this week, I had the great pleasure of joining a career panel where BUA graduates working in the medical field shared their experiences with current students interested in medicine. It brings a smile to my face to watch generations of BUAers together — alums eager to give back and offer some guidance to the […]