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Bold – Our successes
Thanks to generous support from early donors, BB&N opened its newest campus during the 2022 Homecoming Weekend. The two new turf fields are used for practices and home games by Middle and Upper School football, soccer, softball and lacrosse. There is parking for spectators from home and visiting teams. The Grove Street Campus is also used for community events such as Homecoming, Friday Knight Lights, Middle School Field Day, the Upper School Softball Homerun Derby, and Alumni Soccer game.
Through a partnership with the City of Watertown, BB&N also has the use of two adjacent fields at Watertown’s Filippello Park during the school year, and the city is able to use BB&N’s Grove Street fields on weekends and during the summer.
The addition of the Grove Street fields has made it possible for BB&N students to practice on campus and be home in time for dinner with their families.
bold – Our successes
A commitment to innovation has been essential to BB&N’s storied past and now serves as a guiding framework for its future. This pillar of the campaign seeks to ensure that BB&N remains on the forefront of excellence in education.
Under the leadership of Chief Learning Officer Jed Lippard the the Teaching and Learning Office (TLO), BB&N has developed several new initiatives with more to come. The Campaign aims to establish an Endowment Fund for Innovation to support these exciting enterprises. Examples include the BB&N Arts Fest, The Upper School Serenity Room, Pollinator Garden, Digital Fabrication Lab, the Masterclass Speaker Series and more.
Honest, Scholarship, Kindness. Three words that embody the BB&N experience. Now, thanks to an Innovation Grant, the students behind the new app and website, KnightConnect, want to add two new words to the dialogue when people talk about BB&N: opportunity and inclusivity.
Juan Medina ’24, Kevin Winschel ’24 and Charlie Taft ’25 created KnightConnect to give all students at the school direct access to paid internships, community service, and research opportunities. The students identified two main impediments to students’ efforts and sought to disrupt them. The first obstacle they noted was that many internships are only available to undergraduate students. The app curates opportunities for BB&N high school students and currently boasts 165 diverse possibilities across a range of interests.
The second impediment is that often only the students with connections through family or friends land internships. “To get an internship is not easy these days, especially for those who don’t have connections,” Juan explained. “So, we really wanted to equal the playing field, so that even somebody who does not have parents working at a high-end company can get some corporate experience.”
Charlie added “What’s also great is that not only do students benefit, companies and
programs benefit as well from student work and shadowing.”
More recently, KnightConnect has added other resources for students such as SAT study guides with practice problems, and guides to building a LinkedIn profile and resume. KnightConnect will keep improving and working on new ideas in the coming school year.
