Dear BHS Community,
I write to provide you with a “Year in Review” of the work undertaken by the BHS Innovation Fund amidst the excitement at BHS as so many traditions that mark the closing of the school year for our community return in their full capacity. Congratulations to the class of 2022! I join you in looking forward to a summer to relax, reflect, and recharge.
In my first year as Chair of the Innovation Fund we rebuilt and expanded our community while celebrating the opportunity for growth in teaching and learning with the opening of the new STEM Wing and 22 Tappan building and the completion of the BHS expansion project.
Fund-Sponsored Events
Key Innovation Fund sponsored events this year included the COVID-19 Teacher Reflection Summit last summer and the April Innovation Fund Gala. The Summit allowed teachers to share best practices and reflect on their experiences over the past 18 months in order to evaluate and address resulting changes in education. Many conversations related to social and emotional learning (SEL) and how to better address students’ individual needs as they returned in person to a full schedule at BHS this year. Teachers worked on how to provide SEL while continuing to integrate and pivot in response to curriculum challenges. The April Gala served as the culmination of an academic year filled with both building community and growth in teaching and learning as parents, volunteers, students, teachers, and administrators came together in BHS’s new STEM Wing to celebrate our commitment to education at Brookline High.
Existing Fund-Sponsored Programs
Beginning October 2021, the new restaurant in the STEM Wing (Rethinking the Restaurant) was up and running and feeding the BHS community a student-initiated menu. As a result of the Fund’s provision of time and space for teachers to coordinate and plan, The Restaurant has also been able to undertake numerous catering opportunities and serve as a central community builder celebrating the unique culture at the high school with events like GSA’s Friendsgiving, SWS 50th Anniversary, METCO visiting college day, and a Lunar New Year Celebration. The Restaurant brings together students at BHS from every demographic and ability level to connect around the same goal while providing tangible work experience.
Climate Science and Social Change (CSSC) interdisciplinary approach engaged students in project based learning to promote informed advocacy for climate change and offer science based solutions for global, national, and local current climate issues. The students’ projects included simulations to represent blocs of countries in developing a plan to substantially reduce global warming and advocate from different perspectives to create and agree on a wildfire policy for the state of California. The Climate Science course also contributed to our unique community and culture at BHS by creating a dedicated "Climate Change and Environmental Justice" corner and book collection in the BHS library.
I want to thank the Experiential Physics team as they complete the 9th grade curriculum revision to a hands-on learning approach impacting all 9th grade students. This work is not only an incredible success in redesigning learning for students at BHS but their process serves as a model for future Fund-sponsored teachers to follow.
I also want to thank Brookline Lens for their contribution to interdisciplinary student learning by providing a course in which students applied photography and videography knowledge to meet local business marketing and promotion demand.
New Fund-Sponsored Programs
Next year, we will invest more than $330,000 in programs at BHS. Two new programs have been awarded funding and will launch in the 2022-2023 school year. Joanne Burke-Hunter (Social Studies), Laura Gurry (World Languages), Scott Barkett (Social Studies, Special Education), and Heather Giblin (Science) will lead a Social and Emotional Learning Tutorial (SELT); and Danielle Rabina (Math), Danielle Thiessen (Math), and Christopher Monschauer (Special Education) will lead Data Science for Social Justice. Emily McGinnis’s funding for HUB was also extended for one year to complete the work of creating a central connection for all grades and establishing a process to disseminate information on emerging and important topics across the entire student body. We are also supporting Innovation Fellow recipient, Kiera Flynn-Carson, to continue SHARP work at BHS. In addition Tyler Brown (Science), Adam Fried (Math), and Christine Shen (Math) are completing their development of Coding @ BHS and training other teachers in the department.
Gratitude: Fund Comings & Goings
Please join me in welcoming Andrew Liteplo and Molly Yancovitz to the Board of Directors. Welcome also to Jen Amigone, Adi Eldar-Lissai, Katerina Fialkovskaya, Nir Gertner, Adi Kitov, Dipu Patel, Eli Silk, and Shannon Tolis in joining the Board of Advisors.
Thank you to Ellen Rizika and Denise Casper for their commitment to the Fund as they roll off the Board of Directors. Thank you to Chris Noe, Claudia Ordonez, Michele Rozen, Bonnie Sherman, and Mark Barer for their commitment to the Fund as they roll off the Board of Advisors.
The Innovation Fund continues to broadly impact the experience of both teacher and student communities at Brookline High. Thanks to the amazing support of donors and volunteers like you we continue to meet increasing fundraising goals, raising over $400,000 this year, which importantly allows us to continue to grow our programming investment in BHS. Looking forward, I anticipate new programming opportunities resulting from hallway conversations shared in new building spaces left intentionally open to give teachers time to observe student learning and collaboration and develop ideas for how best to fill these spaces. I look forward to the Fund’s continued journey supporting BHS with optimism and appreciation along with Board of Directors Vice Chair Masu Haque-Khan, Board of Advisors Chair Mary Beth Landrum, and all of our volunteers as we enter our 25th year anniversary in 2023.
Best Wishes, Class of 2022!
Graduated Seniors and Families, we send our heartiest congratulations! Please stay in touch with us as you begin your college and career adventures! Reach out to us with your Fund-inspired successes at bhsinnovationfund@psbma.org. We can’t wait to see what you’ll do!
Warm regards,
Maureen Fallon, Chair, BHS Innovation Fund Board of Directors
