Superintendent's Update
November 8, 2024
On November 2, 40 Brookline High School students auditioned for the prestigious and highly competitive Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) Eastern District Senior Music Festival, which is scheduled to take place in January 2025.
Simply going through the rigorous audition process would be considered an achievement, but our students bagged top honors. 17 students were accepted into at least one of the four groups offered at the festival – chorus, orchestra, band and jazz band. This included 6 first chairs, the Orchestra Concertmaster position (which goes to the highest ranking lead violinist), and 7 second chairs. Additionally, 11 students received MMEA All State Festival Audition recommendations, which are given to the top 50% of students accepted to the Senior District Festival.
Join us in congratulating the following students:
Chorus
- Shanti Appavoo, soprano
- Ella Kim, soprano
- David Liao, bass
- Kianoush Rahimi, bass
- Zachary Rogers, tenor
- Elise Ruberg, soprano
Orchestra
- Noa Suk, violin (concertmaster)
- John Avery, cello
- Oliver Heine, violin
- Diane Kang, cello
- Fumiko Kato, violin
- Sarah Lee, violin
- Hanna Shimbori, viola
Band
- Claire Dickenson, French horn
- Anthony Lee, clarinet
Jazz Band
- Adam Margalit, alto saxophone
- Felix Zhao, alto saxophone
Hundreds of BHS seniors buy graduation gowns every year, but most never use them again. These gowns are often not recycled and don’t biodegrade.
BHS alumni have a unique opportunity to give back while promoting sustainability. The Town Gown Project is collecting gently-used graduation gowns, which will be washed and redistributed to BHS seniors who might otherwise need to purchase new, unrecycled, and non-biodegradable gowns.
Gowns will be collected until Friday, November 15. Collection bins have been placed in the atrium and at the STEM wing entrance.
November 11: Veterans Day – schools closed
November 27: Early Dismissal – PreK-8 at noon, BHS at 12:15pm
November 28-29: Thanksgiving Break – schools closed
December 23-January 1: Winter Break – schools closed
January 20: Martin Luther King Jr. Day – schools closed
January 29: Lunar New Year (Category I Holiday) – schools closed
Veterans Day (November 11)
Veterans Day honors all individuals who have served in the United States Armed Forces, recognizing their courage, dedication, and sacrifices, and celebrating their service in safeguarding the nation's freedoms and values. Originally known as Armistice Day, it also commemorates the end of World War I in 1918.
Needs 'Improv'ment/Theater for Social Change
Needs Improvment, an upper level drama class at BHS, will take you on a wild ride through short-form improv activities, as seen on tv shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Be sure not to miss it, because the ideas for the stories come from you, the audience, and what gets performed on Friday will never be performed again!
Theater for Social Change, also an upper level drama class at BHS, creates scenes focusing on social, political, and academic issues relevant to our community. Every performance is followed by a post-show discussion with the audience. TfSC's first performance of the year, Where There’s a Will There’s a Play, tackles the topic of autonomy in an original collection of scenes that seek to shed light on the nuances and many avenues of self government, and how our individual freedoms impact our lives.
When: Friday, November 8 at 7pm
Where: 22 Tappan Theater, Brookline High School
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students, and free for PSB staff and 8th graders.
Camerata & Advanced Chamber Orchestra Concert
Kicking off Brookline High School's first concert of the year, the annual Camerata & ACO features the auditioned Camerata choir and the Advanced Chamber Orchestra! Camerata will perform selections from Eric Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs, a medley of George Gershwin songs, as well as folk song arrangements by Stacey Gibbs and Donald Patriquin. ACO will perform two movements of Prokofiev's Classical Symphony.
When: Wednesday, November 13 at 7:30pm
Where: Roberts/Dubbs Auditorium, Brookline High School
Tickets are $10 for adults; free for students and PSB staff.
BHS Innovation Fund Gala-Rama
Join the BHS community for the BHS party of the year! Bet on the epic egg drop, support a critical Brookline resource, and enjoy an evening of great food, drink, and this year's theme - physics!
The BHS Innovation Fund allows our teachers to create exciting coursework and programs like 9th Grade Experiential Physics, which we're honoring this year. Over its 25 years, the Fund has contributed over $7 million dollars to BHS for courses and programs that impact every student. The Gala-Rama is the Fund's biggest fundraising effort this year, and they rely on your support!
When: Thursday, November 14 from 7pm to 10pm
Where: 22 Tappan Building, Brookline High School
Music Collective Improvised Music Festival
The Improvised Music festival features some of the most adventurous musicians performing today. This year, Rebecca Cline will work with the BHS Music Collective and then perform with them in the evening. Please come out and support live music.
When: Friday, November 15 at 7pm
Where: Roberts/Dubbs Auditorium, Brookline High School
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students, and free for PSB staff.