Special Programs - Bivouac

For the past 52 years, BB&N Freshmen have been ‘meeting' their new Upper School teachers in a most unconventional way—on an outdoor camping, hiking, bonding, learning, cook-your-own-food, dig-your-own-latrine experience called Bivouac. A pivotal bonding experience, Bivouac is a twelve-day outdoor education and team-building program at Camp Marienfeld, BB&N's New Hampshire retreat. In an area of about 200 acres of woodland, the students are divided into small squads responsible for building a kitchen area and cooking their own meals. They also participate in a variety of activities and classes within a carefully structured curriculum. The eight-member squad structure is designed to heighten appreciation of the interdependence of members of a small community and to give each student a chance to plan for and evaluate an experience which takes place in a short, twelve-day time span.

Teachers and other adults from the School's community have guided students through lessons in biology, orientations about Upper School life, human relations, and diversity; and activities that help everyone get to know each other. Bivouac links ninth graders to each other and to the large BB&N Upper School community.

In 2004, Bivouac celebrated its 25th anniversary of going co-ed. After the 1974 merger of the Buckingham and Browne & Nichols Schools, both girls and boys separately attended Bivouac. In 1980, the School decided to make Bivouac a co-ed experience.

Today, students still build their squads on separate sides of the Camp Marienfeld property, but their classes, hikes to Mt. Monadnock, ropes courses, and everyday experiences are co-ed.