A team comprised of four BASIS Independent Brooklyn 7th grade students -- Olivia M., Polly S., Sabrina M., and Sahana C.-- was just named the New York team winner in the You Be The Chemist Challenge. The Challenge is a competition hosted by the Chemical Educational Foundation (CEF) in which teams of 5th-8th grade students explore chemistry concepts and the role of those concepts in their community.
The competition was held virtually this year due to COVID-19. Teams participated in a virtual event where they answered timed questions and submitted a video on sustainability, scientific phenomena, and ways that problems faced by people in their community can be solved using their knowledge of chemistry and science. Ten thousand students from 266 schools competed in the challenge this year.
We believe celebrating student accomplishments is important for not only recognizing excellence but also inspiring our students across the grades. Please join us in congratulations our Bears for a number of recent developments:
Debate Team
Debate Team Coach Brown was thrilled to announce Junior Peter Mugaba-N. won overall City Champion in the New York City Urban Debate Team City Championships. Our own Isaac W. '24 was the runner-up!
In the recent State Competition, our Bears made us proud. Coach Brown shared:
In what is an unparalleled achievement in the annals of American educational assessment, the top five high schools in the United States are BASIS Curriculum Schools, as are six of the nation’s top eight, and seven of America’s top fourteen, according to U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best High Schools” 2018 rankings.
BASIS Curriculum Schools is no stranger to making the news—whether its large scale recognition for its academic program or stories of the differences our students make volunteering in and supporting their local community. We make a point to share these stories out with families and readers, but want to highlight some of the most recent news.
The past couple of weeks have been monumental for our entire network of schools, not only with the start of the 2016-17 school year for BASIS Independent Brooklyn, but with the opening of our two newest schools, BASIS Independent McLean and BASIS Independent Fremont.
According to the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE), the number of Civil Engineering clubs like the one at sister school BASIS Independent Silicon Valley has doubled in the United States in the last year. But recently, the ASCE took notice of the amazing accomplishments happening in Engineering teacher Dr. Amin Ghafooripour's Civil Engineering Club, so they sat down with him to learn more about how he is leading the charge and inspiring the next generation of inventors and engineers.
We have just one story this June coming to us from Vectors, but it is a story we're very excited about, and one that is sparking quite a conversation:
At BASIS Independent Schools, we strive to provide families, fellow educators, and anyone who is curious, with ample opportunities to learn more about who we are, why we do what we do, what it results in, and why it matters.
We are, after all, a fairly unique family of schools. With different types of BASIS.ed-managed schools all around the country, you might not know where to "start" in your search for information. Though many of us are far away from one another, we are united by the common threads of an unparalleled curriculum in both breadth and depth, and a culture driven by our insatiable desire - as students and educators - to constantly grow, improve, and be the best version of ourselves we can be.
Vectors, a BASIS.ed news site, goes beyond the reaches of our school blog, Eureka! Brooklyn to provide to you a window into what it means to be united by these common threads. It is a window into what is going on in and around BASIS.ed-managed schools and students throughout the country (and world!). Take a minute to visit Vectors and subscribe to receive their posts fresh in your inbox.
We spend a lot of time thinking about the word "community." What does it means for us and our students at BASIS Independent Brooklyn? "Community" is a noun, but it acts like a verb; a community is ever-changing, growing, and shifting. Our school community at BASIS Independent Brooklyn, the community of Red Hook, and the larger New York City community are all in constant motion. This is the city that never sleeps, right?
Helping our students understand community and the importance of joining, creating, belonging, respecting, and growing, is a pretty big idea to wrestle with.
Good thing we've never been afraid of big ideas.
Sharing her thoughts on community, BASIS Independent Brooklyn Head of School, Ms. Hadley Ruggles states, "students often ask about their relationship to the world around them. It is critical that a student feels the comfort that comes with a community and a sense of belonging, while also recognizing what makes us a collective whole and what defines us as individuals. We foster this sense of inquiry by immersing students in their community."
On Monday, May 9, we jumped at the opportunity to connect students with neighboring Red Hook Seniors by attending the Torch Relay at the Red Hook Recreation Center and showing their support for the Brooklyn Senior Games.
3 Schools Lead U.S. News & World Report Rankings,
One Day After 6 Schools Topped Washington Post Ranks
This week continues to be a week of huge news for BASIS.ed as annual high school rankings are released. In the Washington Post rankings, released on Sunday, every BASIS.ed managed school eligible for the Post's rankings made it on the list! Today we share with you the results of the U.S. News & World Report rankings where BASIS.ed schools, again, had an incredible showing. Read the press release below and join us in congratulating our sister schools:
In rankings released yesterday by U.S. News & World Report, BASIS.ed schools were named the #2, #3, and #6 best high schools in the nation.The rankings, which highlight top-performing public schools on a state and national level, had BASIS Scottsdale as #2 in the nation for the second consecutive year, as well as the #1 charter school in the nation and the #1 high school in Arizona. BASIS Tucson North was #3 nationally, the #2 charter school nationally, and the #2 high school in Arizona. BASIS Oro Valley is the #6 high school in the nation, the #3 charter in the U.S. and #3 high school in Arizona.
Inspired by the blissful feeling of uncovering connections, our blog Eureka! Brooklyn is about sharing moments that capture the essence of what it is to be a BASIS Independent student, teacher, administrator, or family.