Google visited BC twice over the past month -- introducing Middle and Upper School students to two different programming ventures: Expeditions with Google Cardboard (video above) and Google Code-in.

Google Cardboard is a low-cost system intended to encourage interest and development in virtual reality technology. It works with just a fold-out cardboard mount and a mobile phone. Expeditions lets students visit destinations such as a coral reef or the surface of Mars for an immersive learning experience.
Learn more about Google Code-in.  More photos here.


This week's senior speakers were (left to right) Devin G., Jules M-S., Jess L. and Adrian D.V.! Devin spoke about how he is a natural procrastinator, a fact that he has come to accept about himself, by recounting the story of how he got into the London College of Fashion. Jules discussed the difference between living and being alive and how choosing life is choosing happiness.

Jess talked about how sonder, the realization that passersby are living lives as vivid and complex as your own, can lead to empathy.  Adrian explained how he ideally wants to teach kindergarten and recounted humorous memories of children he has previously worked with.  Read more.

BC students attended The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous' annual dinner at the Waldorf Astoria. Upper School History Teacher Marvin Pollock writes:
"The JFR provides monthly financial support to aged and needy Christian rescuers who risked their lives and the lives of their families to save Jews during the Holocaust. At the dinnner, the JFR unites a rescuer with the survivor he/she saved. Read more.

Photo (left to right): Lindsay N. '17, Leah R. '17, Toluwani R. '17, Upper School Psychologist Karen Kauffmann, Courtney G. '17, Upper School History Teacher Marvin Pollock, Jacob B. '17, Alessandro G. '17, Nathaniel D. '17, Gala P. '17

 
Humanities Teacher Ms. Saxelby and her sixth grade students responded to the terrorist attacks in Paris with an open-ended project about spreading dignity. Learn more on the BC Blog.  One group (Siena, Wilha and Charis above) has a goal of raising $1,500 for the Malala Fund. You can support their initiative here.

 
Berkeley Carroll Boys Varsity Basketball begins the season 3-0! The defending NYSAIS state champions defeated Riverdale at home on Wednesday and then followed that up with wins over ArchBishop Stepinac and King-Low Heywood Thomas in the Hackley Tip-Off Classic!

BC Lions Girls Basketball topped Spence, 54-40 in AAIS league action and then beat Nightingale-Bamford, 40-29! Boys 7th Grade Basketball won 31-30 over Bay Ridge Prep! See photos of Girls 7/8 Basketball and Boys 7/8 Grade Basketball.


Author R.J. Palacio spoke to fourth graders about her best-selling book, "Wonder," on Monday. The students, who read the book in class, asked many questions about the story and Palacio's experience writing it.

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT FOOD CHEMISTRY

Middle schoolers went on an interdisciplinary trip to Tortilleria Nixtamal, a traditional Mexican tortilla factory/restaurant in Corona, Queens, last week!

As part of a science unit on food chemistry, students are doing a case study on corn and will soon research foods of their choice. They are studying Mexican culture in Spanish class.   More photos.

STUDENTS & FACULTY ATTEND DIVERSITY CONFERENCES
Upper School students & faculty attended the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership (SDLC) and People of Color (PoCC) conferences in Tampa, FL!

Middle and Upper School Art Teacher Naima Green and Upper School English Teacher Rafael Sanchez presented a hands-on, art-marking workshop at PoCC entitled "Art and Identity" during which more than 150 educators and administrators explored their identities through a creative lens.

BC students at SDLC led faculty at PoCC in a socio-economic reflection activity which resulted in a soul-searching discussion. Now back in Brooklyn, they will continue to think of ways to use the communication skills they developed at the conference to facilitate discussions in the BC community. More photos. Learn more about the conferences. 

 

They're on the ball! PreK students get moving during a PE class.

Seniors in our Coming to America course recently went to Ellis Island and to see "Allegiance," a new Broadway musical. At the Ellis Island interactive museum, students saw documents that define what it means to be American from the point of view of those who wished to restrict the definition of Americaness to a select few. George Takei's "Allegiance" raised similar questions about identity and loyalty. Read Upper School History Teacher Ken Corfield's recap. 

BC hosted a middle school parliamentary debate tournament last weekend with the Brooklyn Debate League.  More than 200 students from 20 schools debated affirmative action in college admissions, the Second Amendment and birthright citizenship.

The Winter/Spring 2016 edition of the alumni magazine is on its way to your mailbox! Can't wait for the print version? Read it online now.