ALUM PROFILE: Written in the SPICES
For Chloe Hertha Burton ’14 and Raphael Norman-Tenazas ’14, BFS wasn’t just an academic experience—it was the place that shaped their worldviews, fostered lifelong friendships, and ultimately brought them together as a couple.
Chloe reflects on how BFS taught her to listen and engage with the world around her. “It gave me a sense of community and encouraged me to keep asking ‘why’—something I still carry with me every day.” Raphael adds that BFS made him a well-rounded person, with its unique subjects and cultural exposure broadening his thinking and shaping his relationships. “It wasn’t just the academic variety, but the perspectives I gained that shaped who I am today.”
Their time at BFS helped them develop values that continue to influence their lives. Raphael shares how his father joined the Brooklyn Meeting during his Lower School years, and how the Quaker belief in seeing “the light in everyone” became ingrained in his approach to life. “Whenever I meet someone and there’s tension, I think of what my dad would say: ‘There’s a light in everyone,’ and that helps me approach people.” While at BFS, Chloe learned the importance of community. “I loved getting to know all my classmates, bringing everyone together. That sense of connection has stayed with me.” Now working at Friends School of Baltimore, she feels deeply rooted in the Quaker values that shaped her time at BFS.
What neither of them expected was that the school that helped them grow as individuals would also bring them together as a couple. Both were “lifers” at BFS—Raphael started in Pre-K, Chloe in Kindergarten—but their paths didn’t truly converge until 8th grade. “I didn’t really become friends with Raphael until then,” Chloe writes, “but in a class of only 36 students, we all knew each other’s families, so our lives were always intersecting.”
Chloe recalls a particular memory from 5th grade. The summer before, their families had traveled together to North Wales for Raphael’s mom’s art performance. The two bonded over shared embarrassment about their parents, as well as a love for Nintendo games and cats. “I thought we were going to be friends forever,” Chloe recalls, “but Raphael declared he was ‘too cool for me’ before the school year started.” Raphael corroborates, admitting, “I was 10, what can I say? Cooties were a real concern back then!”
It wasn’t until 8th grade that Raphael found that he missed the hugs from Chloe that he once found annoying and realized his feelings had changed. After graduation, he finally asked her out. “We’ve been together ever since,” Raphael notes.
For both Chloe and Raphael, their relationship is rooted in the familiarity of growing up together, witnessing each other’s awkward phases and personal growth. “We saw each other at our best and our worst, and that helps us understand each other in a way that’s hard to explain,” Raphael writes. Chloe agrees, adding, “Even though we’re opposite in a lot of ways, our shared values and experiences always bring us back together. We’ll always have BFS and those memories—whether it’s our 5th-grade Egyptian Funeral project or the Holiday Sing. BFS brought us lifelong friendships and each other.”
As they celebrate more than a decade together, Chloe and Raphael continue to cherish the foundation that Brooklyn Friends School gave them—not just as students, but as partners in life.
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