If you build it—a good school—they will come (and go far!)

This past Saturday offered us another joyful Brimmer and May homecoming community experience (sans a couple of wins on the field we had all been rooting for—sigh—but there is season still to be, so Go Gators!) This event, as well as several recent visits from alums, and in proximity to the Early Decision college application deadline for our seniors, envelops my thoughts with Brimmer students past and present; they swarm through my mind—indeed, my life—like 4-year-old tee-ballers going after a slow-rolling baseball in the first game of the season. However, their level of “play” has advanced substantially, and we can recognize and celebrate bases reached and goals achieved. The youthful school days’ felicity remains a vibrant current running through the veins of each encounter.

 

What We Know

Brimmer and May’s current students, Pre-K to 12 are an impressive group. Our graduates enrolled in colleges and universities across the nation are a very impressive lot. Our alumni matriculated in graduate schools are a truly impressive crowd. Our graduates, new and seasoned, in the work world are a legimately impressive representation of what a Brimmer education can lead to: successful careers, service to community, vigorous lives, and contentment in intellectual and aesthetic domains. In addition to crossing paths with numerous Brimmer and May graduates at Homecoming last Saturday, I have had a few alums drop by my office to say hello when visiting the school, have heard from a number of them via text messages and emails, and have gotten word vicariously about some as well.

 

What We Have Learned (turning the tables on the educator!)

Currently, we have members of the Class of 2023 who are learning the college ropes—managing roommate relations, figuring out time management in a college class day world, making course selections, living independently, etc.—and succeeding. Generally speaking, it gets de mieux, en mieux after the first semester for them.

 

Currently, we have alumni working abroad in China, Portugal, Australia, Taiwan, and the UK to name a few places in the world. Some, inspired by Brimmer’s Winterim program and of course their own interests in coursework and adventure, have just concluded or just started study abroad including more than one at the London School of Economics (let’s hope they help solve our inflation woes).

 

Currently, we have alumni who are pursuing or have just completed graduate degrees (JDs, MAs, MBAs, MDs, Ph.ds, OTDs, etc.) at many fine graduate schools around the country: American University, Boston University, Brandeis University, George Washington University Law School, Harvard University Law School, Harvard University Business School, Columbia Teachers College, Cornell University, Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, USC, to name a bunch—it’s hard to keep up and I keep thinking of more!

 

Currently, we have alumni who are involved in athletics at the highest levels as players and assistant coaches in college programs, as players on professional sports teams, and as front office personnel for professional teams including ones here in Boston. We have alumni involved in the arts as teachers, actors, and artists; they pursue their passions in theaters, galleries, studios, and schools from coast to coast.

 

And currently, we have alumni who are educators—some in our very own classrooms!—locally, nationally, and internationally; some who are police officers, nurses, human resource specialists, business owners and business analysts, entrepreneurs, and so many more occupations that I have not listed but are fulfilling and are contributing to their and our well-being. Brimmer alumni populate the vocational domains of the world, work hard, strive to create successes for themselves and others, and help us see the value of the Mission of the School. It’s always good to see our graduates, to learn of their exploits, to continue to support them when they need support, and to revisit fond memories and make new ones.

 

And now the members of the Class of 2024 step up to the plate! "It is high; it is far; it is gone!" But comes back too!