A MESSAGE FROM
Dr. Larry Weiss Head of School From the truly dedicated and enlightened work of the Brooklyn Friends School Board of Trustees, to the stewardship of the BFS administration, faculty, and staff, to the inspiration provided by our students and alumni – everyone came together to transform a longheld dream into reality. C O V E R P H O T O : A Blue Ribbon Day for Brooklyn Friends: from left, Board of Trustees Co-Chairs Bradford Mulder and Lara Holliday, Head of School Larry Weiss, Head of Upper School Sidney Bridges, and representing Forest City Ratner Companies, Senior Vice President Ali Esmaeilzadeh, celebrating the opening of the new Upper School at 116 Lawrence Street
The Brooklyn Friends School learning community began its 148th year this September with an event that marked the single most significant turning point in the School’s recent history — the opening and immediate occupancy of our new Upper School building at 116 Lawrence Street on the MetroTech campus, less than two blocks away from 375 Pearl Street. As Upper School classes began, students and their parents, as well as teachers and their colleagues, expressed surprise, happiness, and relief about how well the building had met their expectations and, more importantly, how well the building’s design and aesthetic meshed with our community’s values and hopes for the future. Since 1867, Brooklyn Friends School has been a vital part of downtown Brooklyn – fully committed to its growth and development. We are now most fortunate to be part of our community’s dynamic revitalization and redefinition. To find our new home in the middle of MetroTech, as a close neighbor of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, provides invaluable opportunities for collaborative partnerships in science and applied technology that promise to benefit our students and our academic program. The Upper School program has been thriving since its inception in 1907. Always strong in the humanities and sciences, our school developed special strengths in the arts from the 1970’s on. When we adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program eight years ago, we began a comprehensive strengthening of our entire program, including new initiatives in the social sciences. Such improvements were all the more significant because they took place in spite of constraints in space and facilities. Now — at last — we have a facility that is worthy and supportive of our program. From the visual and performing arts disciplines, to technology, science, and the humanities — this building will house a brilliant future for our faculty and students. Our architects, contractors, and owner’s representative – our feet on the ground – have created an exceptionally beautiful and functional school facility that is on time and on budget. Our students are now studying, learning, and expressing their creativity in state-of-the-art science labs, classrooms, and art studios. Along with a black box theater, dance studio, fitness center, library, and cafeteria, the new space is more than double the size and comprehensiveness of our previous upper school building.
2 BROOKLYN FRIENDS SCHOOL JOURNAL Fall 2015
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