2019-20 Annual Review

2019-2020

ANNUAL REVIEW BRIDGING THE TUITION GAP

T H E S T O N Y B R O O K S C H O O L | 1 C H A P M A N PA R K WAY, S T O N Y B R O O K N Y, 1 1 7 9 0

THE STONY BROOK SCHOOL

Mission The Stony Brook School is an independent college preparatory school (grades 7-12) that exists to challenge young men and women to know Jesus Christ as Lord, to love others as themselves, and to grow in knowledge and skill, in order that they may serve the world through their character and leadership.

The Stony Brook School was founded in 1922 with the motto “Character Before Career.” Over the past 98 years we have sought to educate students in matters of the mind, body, and heart. Those who attend our School are not only challenged academically, but challenged to become leaders of integrity and virtue, to develop their character, and to know Jesus Christ as Lord.

Our school has, and will always continue, to highlight the rich synergy between academic inquiry and the Christian faith in the classroom. While we have stayed true to our

Christian roots, our students are free to maintain their own personal spiritual beliefs.

While a Stony Brook education is about amassing knowledge and growing in skill, we believe that skill is never for oneself alone, and we teach our students to take what they learn and use it for the good of their fellow man.

Through mentoring, real-life experience, and meaningful leadership opportunities that contribute to the wellbeing of the surrounding community, Stony Brook students learn the value and power of character. They learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive, that humility and service are the pathway to greatness, and that giving up one’s life is truly the way to find it. Our hope is, through their education, our graduates will serve the world with what they have learned here.

a message from

Joshua Crane, Head of School

T

he 2019-2020 School Year will not be soon forgotten. As Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times and the worst of times.” This year was a year of record achievements. Our seniors gained access to the top colleges and universities in unprecedented numbers. Our Robotics, Ethics Bowl and Mock Trial teams all secured regional championships. Volleyball, Boys Soccer and Boys Basketball made playoff runs. The Prefects showed great leadership by facilitating conversations amongst students on the difficult topics of our world today through the launching of Meet Me Halfway. Our fundraising reached a new annual record and enrollment was the highest since the 1980s. It was indeed the best of times at The Stony Brook School.

However, it was also the worst of times. In March, amidst a surging pandemic in the New York metro region, we were forced to close the School and move our entire program online while actively managing the return home of over 100 students who were not able to leave when our physical doors closed. We experienced loss as we were not able to hold our traditional commencement exercises, teams weren’t able to fulfill their national title ambitions, and students were separated from each other, able only to

connect digitally. Indeed, it was the worst of times.

However, despite the challenges, we learned of The Brook’s resilience.

Teachers put our entire academic program online in the course of a weekend to ensure academic consistency, students stayed connected with each other through weekend activities like trivia nights and lip synch contests, and administrators worked together to create the best possible ending for our Seniors. Even in the midst of challenge, SBS demonstrated its commitment to excellence, love, and care in a way few other schools were able to do. As The Stony Brook School embarks on its 99th year, it embraces hardship as discipline in order to become more like its Savior.

Even as storms rage, we know the God who has determined our steps and will preserve and protect us as we submit to Him. Onward!

Joshua Crane, Head of School

2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR highlights A C A D EMICS

At the start of the school year, class of 2020 senior Wensan Jiachen was selected for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s prestigious Partners for the Future Program—a program that selects only twelve students throughout Long Island each school year to receive a head start in the world of science research.

In February, SBS won the Long Island High School Ethics Bowl for the third year in a row. Both of our teams went undefeated at the event, finishing first and second in the opening rounds and qualifying for the semifinals—setting up an unprecedented sweep of the event by a single school.

The SBS Upper School Robotics Team competed in the FIRST Robotics Long Island Regional Competition on February 2. In order to compete, students were required to build a robot that could participate in

tournament-style games against other teams across the island. After winning 2-1 in the semi-finals against a local rival, they rolled into the championship matches 2-0. In addition, students took home awards in all three engineering categories for Programming, Design, and Innovation.

SP I RI TUA L F ORMA TI ON

Christian life at SBS takes on many forms, including voluntary and involuntary events for students, programmed activities, organic and relationally-driven ministry, and both one-on-one and group fellowship.

Driven, our on-campus youth group, hosts a retreat each year, which continues to be a spiritual life highlight for many students. In January 2020, 100 students and 12 faculty traveled to Camp Spofford in New Hampshire to enjoy a restful spiritual retreat together.

During the month of April, a Tenebrae service was filmed and live streamed by staff, faculty, and students, incorporating scripture reading, singing, and other performances that journeyed through the last hours of Jesus’ life.

A THL ETICS

Though the 98th year of Stony Brook Athletics was cut short due to the pandemic, there was still much to celebrate from the fall and winter seasons.

SBS students Lilly Jette ‘21 and Isabella Seminario ‘22 were named winners of the The Great South Bay Yacht Racing Association Season Championship for their joint performance on the 420 sailboat.

The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams defended their Private Schools Athletic Association (PSAA) Championships from 2018 by dominating the field at Van Cortlandt Park.

The boys’ soccer team won the PSAA Eastern Division title with a thrilling 2-1 win vs. Knox under the lights while the boys’ JV soccer team capped an undefeated season with the PSAA Tournament crown.

The girls’ tennis team swept their way to an undefeated East Division title and the girls’ volleyball team finished undefeated in league play for the third straight year before securing the PSAA Tournament title. They have won 26 straight league matches dating back to 2016.

As winter returned to Long Island, our wrestling team turned in a historic season, winning their first league title since 1972. Eze Barrah led the charge by becoming our school’s first wrestling State Champion, taking the 195 lbs class at the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Tournament.

In the pool, Hunter Markowitz capped a memorable career by securing silver and bronze medals at the NYSAIS Swimming Championships.

97 Bears earned All-League honors, Luqman Bare, Eze Barrah, Rebekah Detwiler, and Sadhana Sridhar earned league MVP honors, and David Hickey, Alicia Brummeler, Mark Maningo, and Joe Calabria (in his first season) earned PSAA Coach of the Year honors.

C O L L E G E PLACEMENTS

The class of 2020 did outstandingly well with college acceptances. 37% of our students were accepted to at least one Top 25 school, as designated by US News and World Report. Our Ivy League acceptance rate, including University of Chicago and Stanford, went from 9% in 2018 to 11% in 2019. For the class of 2020, it was 17%. 54% of the class applied for early decision deadline, and 52% were accepted to those schools.

The Class of 2020 was accepted to 190 different colleges and universities compared to 158 in 2019. This was the highest number of colleges that our students have been accepted to in the last five years. In addition, several students who were deferred or wait-listed were accepted.

C A MP U S LIFE

These numbers show us that we’re doing a better job of helping students choose schools that they are a good fit for. The colleges seem to agree, as evidenced by our much higher acceptance rates, compared to the overall acceptance rate for these schools.

Creating a close-knit community is one of the many attributes we strive for at SBS. During the school year our advisory program (weekly connection groups led by a faculty or staff member) continued on strong, despite the arrival of COVID, which forced all of our students and faculty to begin learning remotely. Throughout the rest of the trimester, advisory was held through Zoom and helped students continue to connect during an isolating time.

A SAMPLING OF COLLEGE ACCEP TA N CES FROM THE

CLASS OF 2020 Amherst College (2) Brown University (2) Columbia University (2) Cornell University (4) Johns Hopkins University (4) UC Berkley (3) Vanderbilt University (4)

We also held online activities to help students feel like they had something fun to look forward to when they hadn’t left their house in weeks. Students participated in events like a talent show, cooking shows, a lip-sync battle, and a dance challenge that brought some joy into a dark and frustrating time.

2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR highlights C U LT I VA T I N G T H E A R T S Two of SBS’ extremely talented musicians,​ Gilda DelBianco and Judy Tao, were recently selected to participate in the New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education (NYSCAME) All-State Music Festival.

Being selected for this festival is based on students’ New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) scores and how they compare to other students at the same level across the entire state. Gilda, viola, and Judy, soprano 1, traveled to Rochester from Dec. 5-8 to participate in intensive rehearsals and weekend concerts at the Rochester Convention Center.

The Theatrical Arts Society put on the hilarious, Elvis-inspired musical All Shook Up in February. Our talented cast worked hard to learn lines, music, and choreogra-

phy while the tech, set, and design crews worked tirelessly to bring a bit of magic to Carson Auditorium—all working together to put on an incredible show.

While quarantined at home during March and April, the Chamber Singers String Players virtually collaborated to create performances of “Yellow Submarine” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” respectively.

These performances were layered together and edited to sound just as wonderful as an in-person performance, and can be found on SBS’s YouTube channel.

From the Office of Equity and Inclusion

by Chris Burton, Frank E. Gaebelein Director of Equity and Inclusion

The 2019-2020 school year was an exciting time for the Office of Equity and Inclusion. The Community Read program, a program focused on cultivating a culture of reading and discussion, was established, and both student and faculty/staff tracks were created. Members of the community were invited to read Beverly Tatum’s Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race and discuss how Dr. Tatum’s concept of “Positive Group Identity” could benefit SBS. In the fall of 2020, the Community Read program will continue as we read Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited.

Month in February was commemorated with an assembly and daily celebration of notable members of the African Diaspora. March was filled with recognition of the accomplishments of women from a variety of social locations. In May, we celebrated Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month via Community Read, inviting students to share poetry and stories about AAPI heroes. The Prefect Board partnered with the Office of Equity and Inclusion to create Meet Me Halfway; a program where students have an opportunity to engage in civil discourse about difficult issues such as the environment, racial justice and geopolitics.

Durng the fall of 2019, high holy days of Rosh Hoshanah and Yom Kippur were recognized, and Hispanic Heritage Month was filled with daily messages to the school community regarding notable members of the Hispanic community. In October, we joined the national conversation surrounding Indigenous People’s Day, the history of Italian-Americans, and the origins of Columbus Day. On Martin Luther King Day, we held a re-dedication of the Rosa Parks/Coretta Scott King plaque located outside of Carson Auditorium. Black History

During the summer, three affinity groups were created: The Black Student Union, The Asian Student Union, and The Hispanic Student Union. These student unions have already held events on campus and continue the work of maintaining SBS as a multicultural space. The student unions send members to the newly formed Equity and Inclusion Council. This council, led by the Director of Equity and Inclusion and the Community Engagement Prefect, leads the student facing side of Equity and Inclusion.

The Office of Equity and Inclusion also implemented an employee wide anti-racism training with two cohorts that lasted six weeks each. Post-training sessions will continue throughout the 2020-2021 school year. The institution wide Anti-Racism Initiative is underway as this season of lament allows the community to hear stories from marginalized groups in our community and work together to ensure that our school community is equitable and an ally in the work of racial justice. The anti-racism sermon series collaboration with the Chaplain’s Office and work with the Alumni Working Group are two examples of the comprehensive work the school is engaged in to ensure that The Stony Brook School is a community where people of all ethnicities can thrive.

thank you FOR HELPING US RAISE $1.86 MILLION FOR LAST YEAR’S ANNUAL FUND! Y O U R GE N E RO U S D O N AT I O N S A L LO WE D U S TO I N V E ST I N O U R S C H O O L A N D ST U D E N T S BY E N A B L I N G U S TO :

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Install a pool dehumidification system, creating a stabilized room environment, decreasing the use of outside air and the energy needed to heat or cool the air

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Purchase housing for new staff to accommodate growing number of students enrolled

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Undertake necessary faculty home and school building upgrades

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Continue upgrading the Learning Commons by adding a digital classroom, faculty work room, and book room

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Meet COVID-19 expenses including adding sanitizing stations and providing PPE equipment

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Enhance WiFi service in the dorms

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Launch SBS Online and SBS Global, the latter of which is an online infrastructure that will enable us to expand our reach as a School

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Install a new infield on the baseball field with new backstop and fencing

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Secure buses for student transport

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Upgrade the alarm systems and fire doors in multiple buildings

OUR 2020-21 SBS NEXT GOAL IS

$2,000,000

I F WE R E A C H T H I S G OA L , WE WI L L B E A B L E TO I N C R E A S E T H E VA LU E O F T H E S B S E X PE R I E N C E BY:

+ SECUR ING ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL AID

+ EXPANDING OUR HIGHLANDS TESTING

FOR FA MILIES IMPACTED BY COVID-19

SERVICES TO FURTHER SUPPORT COLLEGE COUNSELING

+ FURTHER INVESTING IN OWL CAMERAS AND IPADS TO BETTER EQUIP OUR FACULTY INSTRUCTION: BOTH IN PERSON AND ONLINE

+ BUILDING AN ONLINE TEACHING AND

+ R EPLACING NECESSARY TRANSPORTATION

PLACING A DOR M SEPTIC SYSTEM

EQUIPMENT

+ COVER ING ADDITIONAL EXPENSES INCUR R ED BY COVID-19 TO ASSUR E OUR STUDENTS SAFETY AND WELL BEING

PRODUCTION STUDIO

+ R ENOVATING FACULTY HOUSES AND R E+ UPGRADING CAMERA AND DOOR SYSTEMS, CAMPUS INTER NET, AND OTHER BACK END INFRASTRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENTS

BREAK DOWN

2019-20 FISCAL YEAR

Payroll tax & benefits 18 %

TOTAL REVENUE

Academics & Student Life 3.9%

$16,814,027

*** Supporting

Offices 3.8 %

Other 4.3 % Unrestricted Contributions 10.4%

** General

institution Expenses 7.1 % Facilities & Security 11.3 % Salaries 34.4% Capital Improvements & Strategic Initiatives 13.6 %

ยบ NET

Tuition 85.2%

* Auxiliary

Cost

Centers 8%

TOTAL EXPENSES

$16,647,779

ยบ Net Tuition includes all Financial Aid and Tuition Remission | * Food Service, Health Center, School Store | ** Technology, Insurance, Institutional Memberships | *** Admissions, Business Office, Advancement, Head of School

BOARD OF TRUSTEES S. Michael Koh ’88, Chair, New York, NY Elaine M. Kanas P’09, Vice-Chair, East Moriches, NY Ian Haynes P ’15, ’17, ’21, Treasurer, Montego Bay, Jamaica Bradley R. Kirk ’82, Secretary, Santa Anna, CA *Polly Berol, Director of Finance/Assistant Treasurer, Stony Brook, NY *Joshua Crane, P’18, ’20, ’23, Head of School, Stony Brook, NY Bruce D. Bohuny P’17, Ridgewood, NJ Sharon Bottomley P’06, ’16, New Canaan, CT Henry Ho ’78, Fayetteville, AR Christine Kang P’18, Beijing, China Christopher Levy ’84, P’18, Kingston, Jamaica Wendelyne Horst Murphy ’82, Greenwich, CT Rebecca Haile Swanson ’78, Westport, CT Jaime L. Turton P ‘23 ‘25, Patchogue, NY P = Parent of graduate * = Non-voting member

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT