Welcome Letter 2020 and Key Information on School Reopening

August 14, 2020

Dear BBA students and families, 

It is a sincere pleasure to welcome you to the 2020-2021 academic year. Life on campus will be different this fall, but the necessary health and safety measures are worth the inconvenience, so that we can learn together. BBA’s campus is beautiful, but it is the people that bring it to life. I am confident that with everyone doing their part, our hybrid opening will be a success. 

I am excited to meet new students and families and to reconnect with returning students and families over the course of the coming weeks. Our talented and committed faculty and staff are also eager to welcome you all back! Like many of you, some are anxious to return. This fall we are counting on everyone to do their small part to keep the community healthy and school open for in-person learning. Completing daily health screenings and wearing face coverings, along with regular hand hygiene and physical distancing are the new normal. My hope is that after a few weeks, the new normal will just be a part of our culture, and what comes into focus are learning challenges and opportunities, new and renewed connections with peers, and unexpected inspirations that inspire a curiosity to learn, all leading to new accomplishments.

In two weeks we will welcome you back to campus for in-person orientation programs. It has been a long time since you have had the opportunity to gather with peers and teachers and dig into learning on campus. I am grateful to all of my colleagues who continue to work behind the  scenes so that we are ready for a safe and healthy return to engaging and vigorous learning on BBA’s campus.

You are coming into adulthood during an uncertain time in our history. As citizens, your charge will be to lead our communities post-pandemic, after the 2020 election, through economic uncertainty and climate change, and towards the social justice laid out in our constitution but not yet fulfilled in our actions. 

I share with you two resources to ground us in the work ahead:

Many of our rising Juniors had the opportunity to read civil rights leader John Lewis' book March and attend a  talk he gave in October 2019.  He left behind a powerful message for today’s youth, published in the New York Times after his death, urging all of us “to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.” 

It is hard work to do what John Lewis asks of us and it is important to remember that we are a campus of people with different stories. We must avoid limited perspective, closed-mindedness, and stereotypes. As the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reminds us in her powerful 2009 TED talk, the problem is not with the stereotypes themselves, but rather with the fact that “that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story… it is impossible to engage properly with a place or person without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person.” 

We have the opportunity to contribute as the authors of our story. BBA offers its learners the opportunity to prepare—to debate vigorously, to think critically, to connect to your own voice, to foster responsibility to the community, to understand and solve complex problems, and care deeply about each other and the world around us. 

In closing, remember that BBA’s faculty and staff are your greatest supporters; they are committed to creating the right learning conditions so that you can succeed. We will listen to you, help you find the right path, make the right choices, and discover your passions and purpose. 

Enjoy the final weeks of the summer break,