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A Lifelong Network
This fall, bbin娱乐平台 launched a Career Mentoring Program. We reached out to our broader bbin娱乐平台 family to ask whether folks would be willing to mentor young alums and current students as they explore various career paths. The community answered. To date, 75 current parents, parents of graduates, and alums who are established in their careers offered guidance through informational interviews and shadow days. We have already connected dozens of them to recent graduates and current seniors, with more matches to come. We are deeply grateful to our volunteers and look to continue and expand this network in the future. While some of our students and young alums can tap into their own professional networks through family and friends, many cannot. This program seeks to provide equitable access to career advice and mentorship across a broad range of fields. It gives the mentors another way to give back to a school community... More
Reva Machanavajhula ’28 Selected For MA State Junior Golf Team
bbin娱乐平台 freshman Reva Machanavajhula '28 was selected as one of eight girls representing Massachusetts as part of the state's inaugural junior golf team. Reva, along with her teammates, are part of the "pipeline to the US National Development Program (USNDP), a new initiative by the USGA to elevate American golf to global prominence," according to a press release issued by Mass Golf. She is the youngest member amongst both the boys' and girls' junior golf teams. Reva's many accolades in golf include winning the Junior-Mite Division in the Massachusetts Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship in 2020, 2022, and 2023; placing 8th (top female) in the 2023 Massachusetts Young Golfers’ Amateur Championship; qualifying for match play in 2023 Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship; and representing MA in the Junior Inter-City Team Matches in 2024. Reva shares that, for her, "Golf isn't just a hobby; it's a passion that fuels my competitive spirit and teaches... More
Students Leading the Way in Admissions
We are in the final stretch of our admission season. Today is the last day of in-person tours, and applications are due on the 15th. I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and thank our student admission ambassadors – and all the students who play such a big part in telling bbin娱乐平台’s story to families and students who are just getting to know us. Last night, we hosted our annual Evening with the Head of School, an event for prospective families to mingle with bbin娱乐平台 faculty, staff, and current families. One common refrain I heard from our visitors was how amazing our students have been in the admission process – including last night. It was a cold one. Bundled up, bbin娱乐平台 admission ambassadors were outside greeting visitors and helping them find their way to the event. That warm greeting on a frigid night made a real impression. I heard about... More
Many Ways to Show What You Know
bbin娱乐平台 classes wrap up today, and we start exam week on Monday. We think of exams as a chance for students to show what they know. What skills have they picked up and honed? What new knowledge have they acquired? How have they synthesized months’ worth of readings, themes, and problems? How do you do that? Our teachers have taken a flexible and creative approach to exams. Some departments give a sit-down, two-hour exam. There is a lot students can demonstrate in that format. The style is predictable and familiar. It is also good practice for what they will see in some of their BU courses and beyond. Some courses have moved to in-person, one-on-one interview formats – most commonly in history classes, but recently in geometry as well. In dialogue with students, teachers probe a range of topics spanning the semester’s content and requiring students to flex their critical thinking... More
Informing Civil Discourse
In my opening talk this fall, I expressed faith that our students have the dispositions to do what seems near impossible in our broader society: engage with one another around difficult topics with kindness and curiosity. This fall, I have seen that happening, even outside the classroom, where students are tentatively but steadily moving beyond the reticence that had set in last year. To move us further down that path, we have designed our all-school meeting program this year to help inform the conversations our students are having. Shortly before the election, BU history professor Dr. Bruce Schulman talked about several key presidential elections in the 20th century with the goal of helping us all understand how we have landed with this particular flavor of two-party election in 2024. We then welcomed Dr. Nancy Harrowitz, the Director of BU’s Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Students, and Dr. Mohammad Zaman, the Director... More
Research Highlight: Metch Nelson ’25
For his senior thesis project, Metch Nelson '25, in collaboration with Dr. Brett Maricque at Washington University in St. Louis, is researching the disparities in healthcare in the context of large-scale genetic research programs. Specifically, Metch's research focuses on the National Institute of Health's All of Us Program, which aims to improve health care by building a diverse database that can inform thousands of studies on a variety of health conditions. Below, Metch shares more about his thesis research and why he was inspired to take on this work. Tell us about your research. My research focuses on the All of Us Research Program, a large-scale genetic initiative designed to accelerate precision medicine by collecting diverse health data from one million or more participants across the US. The program's goal is to improve healthcare outcomes by ensuring personalized treatment approaches. I am specifically examining the program's history, motivations, leadership, participant engagement, and... More
Lunch with Students
As I do every year, I’ve been hosting lunches this fall in my office with groups of seniors. I’ll do the same with juniors in the winter and then with all 9th and 10th grade advisory groups in the spring. On any given day, you can smell the Raising Cane’s chicken tenders, Chipotle burritos, and Otto pizza down the hall. There is no agenda for the meetings. I’ll often ask how things are going to get a pulse check. The most fun part is when students start asking me questions – about how we do admissions, how the budget works, our relationship with BU, how we choose ASM speakers, how the curriculum changes, how financial aid works, where the school is going. The time flies by. Their curiosity comes through, but there’s more than that. They really care about their school. They feel a sense of pride and ownership. And they... More
Relationships Unlock Learning
Part of my routine each week is popping into three or four classes. I sit off to the side – usually quietly, but sometimes I can’t help but join the fun. Those visits allow me to commend our extraordinary teachers and get a better feel for the students’ day-to-day experience. Those visits are also a good reminder of how important relationships are to learning. There’s a common aphorism that students don’t learn from people they don’t like. While I might quibble with the phrasing and choose to substitute “like” for respect, admire, and trust, it does hint at a series of findings from decades of research about how kids learn best. Feeling seen, known, and loved by your teacher opens the door to learning. It creates a sense of emotional comfort and belonging. It allows students to make mistakes, admit what they don’t know, and ask for help without shame or... More
BU President Dr. Melissa Gilliam Shares Her Story at ASM
On the morning of Tuesday, November 12, BU President Dr. Melissa Gilliam addressed the bbin娱乐平台 community at our weekly all-school meeting. In her remarks, President Gilliam shared details of her early life: the daughter of a groundbreaking abstract painter and the first Black woman reporter at the Washington Post, Gilliam attended independent schools in Washington, DC, and spoke fondly of a high-school English teacher who, in a comment on one of her papers, encouraged Gilliam to be a "Renaissance person." Gilliam took her teacher's advice to heart: her indirect career path to university leadership reflects an abiding curiosity and a refusal to be pigeonholed into just one field of study -- much like bbin娱乐平台 students. Before her installation as BU's 11th president, and also its first female and first Black president, in September of 2024, President Gilliam served as provost and executive vice president at The Ohio State University, and, previously, More
Being Yourself
On Thursday night, we held one of my favorite new bbin娱乐平台 traditions. The South Asian Students Association hosted our second-annual Garba in celebration of Navratri. The word garba refers both to a communal circle dance originating in Gujurat and – as in our case – an event where that dance takes place. It was a beautiful evening. Students of South Asian descent arrived in traditional attire, and many of them brought their families. They were excited to celebrate together, but just as excited to share their cultural heritage with their bbin娱乐平台 friends from all backgrounds. They taught their peers several variations of the dances. In no time at all, several dozen students, parents, and teachers were up on their feet dancing, smiling, and learning from each other. I was struck and grateful to be part of a community where the South Asian students feel so comfortable bringing this important part of... More