THE LIGHT: Ensuring the Just Place and Right Path
As the Class of 2026 prepares to embark on the next step of their journeys later this summer, we wanted to share this feature, which appears in the latest issue of The Light magazine. It gives great insight into how BFS prepares its students for college and beyond.
If the third floor commons at Lawrence Street is the Times Square of Brooklyn Friends School, then Frank Cabrera’s office is exactly where the ball drops each New Year’s Eve. That is to say, it is at the center of it all, and it yields new beginnings.
The office itself, however, means little without its main inhabitant, who has been the Director of College Counseling at BFS since 2021, and this past September had the role of Assistant Head of Upper School for 11th and 12th grades added to his responsibilities. As the Director of College Counseling, Frank might tell you that he is part active listener, part thought-partner, and part cartographer. In the end, it is not about the final destination, although that is often the source of amazing pride, it is about the process.
One of the things our Head of School, Crissy Cáceres, always says about college placement here at BFS is that the end result of the process is always correct, as long as it honors the student and their journey. Can you explain that?
Our approach is always putting the student and their process at the center, and to really honor who they are, and who it is that they hope to become.
We try to amplify those emergent and already present perspectives. I don’t believe in shuffling kids into schools because it is a name brand school, or highly selective school, and nor do I
even personally believe that that onto itself is what should be celebrated. What I’ve always taken a great deal of pride in my work throughout my career, and especially here at Brooklyn Friends School, is that we are really finding the right schools for these kids, and that we are really trying to identify all the ways that they can continue to become who they are already on the path to becoming at these different institutions. For me, that’s always been my joy—knowing
that when it’s all said and done, most, if not all kids, feel like they’re at the school they’re supposed to be at, because they have been intentional with their choices all throughout and that degree of intention is what centers everything that we do in the college process.
How do you ensure that the student is always centered in the process?
I’m just a facilitator, and I think my job is to make sure that they are the ones driving the conversations, and to get to know the students, to see them in their excellence and in their shine. I strive to lead them through this process by asking them questions, even if they don’t have the full answer perspective. My job is to shepherd the students into finding the answers out for themselves. I think when you do that, and when you’re really honoring those stories that emerge to those conversations, that’s what allows me to do my job to the best of my abilities. I need to get to know who the families are, to be in concert with them as they figure things out amongst themselves, and then just making sure that in the conversations, it’s never about me, or my thoughts, or my perspectives. It always has to be grounded in what they want.
How do you feel when alums come back and reflect on the process, who they became, and how they discovered they are?
One of the questions I ask alums when they come back to visit is, ’Do you feel like you are where you’re supposed to be? Do you feel like you landed in the right place?’ When the kids come back and they’re just so overjoyed with their experience, it’s amazing to hear, and it’s also amazing to hear about their growth. That certainly validates the work that we do. It’s also allowed me, as the years progress, to trust my gut and my intuition with so much more confidence. It’s a reminder to me that I know what we are doing well at a high level.