Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, ‘84, who serves as a House delegate representing the Virgin Islands, says being asked to be our 2021 Commencement Speaker was a special moment. “This place helped make me who I am,” she said while Zooming in from Washington, DC. As a politician, an attorney, and a commentator, Congresswoman Plaskett has always […]
Join us for a week of virtual activities for and by our alumni community! Alumni Week Events – June 1 to June 7, 2021 RSVP Now to the Events Listed Below Tuesday, June 1 at 7pm, Book Discussion with Gerry Valentine ’81 Gerry Valentine inspires people to build resilience—to overcome setbacks, to look at […]
BFS and the Class of 2014 may be gearing up for Commencement right now, but at this time 50 years ago, it was the Class of ’64’s big moment to graduate BFS. Fun to look back since many of our ’64 alumni are planning to celebrate their 50th reunion on June 7 at BFS Alumni Day. […]
Got to thinking about Benjamin R. Burdsall this week as our Upper School faculty has been doing its own thinking about recipients of our annual awards for the Upper School closing ceremony on June 9. Today seems a good day to remember who Mr. Burdsall was for so many at BFS and why BFS gives […]
Dick Begelman, 1968 BFS Alumni Day is June 7 and it will be a fabulous event as always. Our annual Alumni Day is for all alumni, faculty and friends. Alumni of all graduating years are welcome, yet Alumni Day is also the day for alumni class reunions. BFS often recognizes faculty at Alumni Day and this […]
Editor’s note: since the publishing of this article in 2013, the School celebrated its 150th anniversary and published Brooklyn Friends School: 150 Years of Light. Some of us will remember that BFS did publish a book about its history, Seventy Five Years of Brooklyn Friends School, in celebration of the school’s 75th anniversary in 1942 […]
It is a musical time in the Archives. A faculty member’s recent request to see the highly-acclaimed Academy Award winning documentary Close Harmony sparked nice memories. Filmed at BFS during the 1979-80 school year, Close Harmony was directed by alum parent Nigel Noble and chronicles the Intergenerational Chorus, which was the brainchild of our […]
In 1914, Friends School – as it was then called – was expanding at all levels, with its young high school program being one of them. Our athletic program had only just gotten off the ground and it was soon clear that the school needed athletic facilities to go further. Our second athletic director, […]
The paper of record at BFS was once known as The Life. An award-winning student publication, The Life was published continuously at BFS from December of 1919 until, we believe, 1995. For its first 50 years or so, The Life was made available to the entire BFS community for a small annual fee because it […]
The second school song written for BFS is The BFS Alma Mater. The lyrics were written by noted sci-fi author and BFS alum Edgar Pangborn ’24 and the music was composed by BFS music teacher J. Trevor Garmey during the 1920s. Read also Our School Songs, Part 1. To read more about Brooklyn Friends School’s history, visit […]
For many years, students at BFS have been singing the wonderful song Simple Gifts as the official school song of BFS. Introduced in the 1970s or 1980s during a choir concert, the Shaker dance song Simple Gifts was quickly adopted as our school’s much-beloved song. There are, in fact, two earlier school songs which were written for BFS […]
