4 minute read
Director of Athletic Program & Vision
Dear Brooklyn Friends School Families,
It is with great joy, pride, enthusiasm, and humility that I write to you as the Director of Athletic Program and Vision at BFS. In my first year, I plan to be an active member and listener in the BFS community, and build relationships with families and student-athletes so that we can together bring the athletics department at BFS to new heights. David Gardella has done an exceptional job coordinating the athletics program at BFS for more than 20 years. Moving forward, David will be the Director of Athletic Operations and Management. Together, we will build upon all of the amazing work that he has done and forge an expanded vision; increasing our digital media presence, rejuvenating the athletics facilities and spaces, and creating new programming for our students. All of this will be done with the goal to cultivate a more robust athletic program to facilitate the best student-athlete identity and experience possible.
All students in grades 7 through 12 are encouraged to sign-up for one or more of our 37 athletics teams across 10 different sports throughout the year, starting with soccer, girls’ volleyball, and cross country in the fall. We wholeheartedly believe that—with the proper supports and expert guidance— there is an athlete inside each and every student that can be brought to light.
Required Actions
Sign up for a team by clicking HERE to fill out the athletics sign-up form.
Click HERE to view BFS athletic schedules and sign-up to get VIP athletic practice and game alerts here (please note that schedules are subject to change).
Student-athletes participating in Fall athletics (grades 7-12) need to submit their required health forms through Magnus before Monday, August 22, 2022.
Looking Ahead
Winter season begins on November 1, 2022: Boys & Girls Basketball, Boys & Girls Indoor Track, Boys & Girls Squash, Boys & Girls Swimming Spring season begins on February 27, 2023: Boys Baseball, Girls Softball, Boys & Girls Outdoor Track, and Boys Volleyball
What’s New
Follow and keep up with the Panthers via our Athletics Instagram and Athletics Twitter accounts.
I am always happy to talk about our program and unfolding vision, and answer any questions you may have. Please do not hesitate to contact me at crbrown@brooklynfriends.org.
Go Panthers! #BluePride #LoveWins
With Gratitude,
Christian Brown Director of Athletics Programming & Vision
Summer Readings for Colleagues
The IdenTITy-ConsCIous eduCaTor: BuIldIng haBITs and skIlls for a More InClusIve sChool by Liza A Talusan
COMMON READ FOR ALL COLLEAGUES
Readers will learn powerful, practical strategies for creating an inclusive school community. The Identity-Conscious Educator provides a framework for building awareness and understanding of five identity categories: race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Connect with vignettes and personal stories from the author that illuminate how to address identity topics in your personal and professional life. Then, develop skills in engaging in meaningful interactions with students and peers. Among skills learned will be: Discovering how identity affects both personal and professional lives; Reviewing a framework for building habits and skills of identity-conscious teaching and learning; Building knowledge of five different identity categories and experiences—race, social class, sexual orientation, gender, and disability—and then act for positive change; Reviewing practical, research-based strategies, and activities for having difficult conversations and creating more inclusive communities.
all aBouT love by bell hooks
A New York Times bestseller and enduring classic, All About Love is the acclaimed first volume in feminist icon bell hooks’ “Love Song to the Nation” trilogy. All About Love reveals what causes a polarized society, and how to heal the divisions that cause suffering. Here is the truth about love, and inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in our homes, schools, and workplaces. As bell hooks uses her incisive mind to explore the question “What is love?” her answers strike at both the mind and heart. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for individuals and for a nation. The Utne Reader declared bell hooks one of the “100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life.” All About Love is a powerful, timely affirmation of just how profoundly her revelations can change hearts and minds for the better.
BeauTIful CounTry: a MeMoIr by Qian Julie Wang
The moving story of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world — an incandescent debut from an astonishing new talent. In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her family is “illegal” and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive.
The MusIC of sTrangers Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Orchestra
The Grammy-nominated documentary The Music of Strangers, follows members of the Ensemble as they gather in locations across the world, exploring the ways art can both preserve traditions and shape cultural evolution. Blending performance footage, personal interviews, and archival film, Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville and producer Caitrin Rogers focus on the personal journeys of a small group of Silkroad Ensemble mainstays — Kinan Azmeh (Syria), Kayhan Kalhor (Iran), Yo-Yo Ma (France/United States), Wu Man (China), and Cristina Pato (Spain) — to chronicle passion, talent, and sacrifice. Through these moving individual stories, the filmmakers paint a vivid portrait of a bold musical experiment and a global search for the ties that bind.
