Therefore we are upgrading our labs and Science equipment and expanding our course offerings. For instance, both AP Biology and AP Physics will now be offered in the Upper School. In September 2012, we will introduce an original research Independent Study program in the Upper School, for highly qualified students who seek to pursue university level research in the sciences, in addition to the AP curriculum. This additional offering will further enrich our Upper School Science program. In the Middle School, we have introduced a Science Round Table elective, which will be a Science enrichment course very similar in structure to the popular BWL Political Union course. Taught by a team of Science teachers as well as visiting professional scientists, the Science Round Table course will be a discussion-based enrichment offering for Middle School students who want an in-depth probing of scientific subject areas such as genetic engineering.
In the spring, our Science Department chairman, Ben DiNardo, visited The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, as part of our commitment to generate ideas that will help us expand and enrich our Science curriculum, as well as our laboratory resources. This year, for the first time, the School has hired a full-time lab assistant, who will facilitate more instructional time and a greater number of labs in the Middle and Upper School. This past summer, we also offered Science in the City, a summer course providing hands-on experience as well as a focus on environmental awareness. Our Women in Science Education Program (WISE), which is aimed at Middle School girls, has been a highly successful lecture series. One of our goals as a coeducational school is to ensure that girls have the same excellent educational experience in Science as boys do.
This educational initiative in Science has become an important component of the Shaping Our World Capital Campaign. As we have begun to publicize these plans, we have discovered that there is a staggering degree of interest among parents and alumni in our Science initiative. Recognizing the importance of Science in the curriculum, enrolled families and alumni have expressed interest in making donations toward the refurbishment of our labs. Because Science is a material discipline, we are increasingly aware that more financial support is required than in other subject areas. What began as an effort to reshape our curriculum has now become a crucial aspect of fundraising for the Capital Campaign. We are very grateful to the six parent donors who have so far made major donations toward the acquisition of new Science equipment.
A new design for our website will be introduced in September. In anticipation of this improved format, we have introduced two new features to our current website: BWL News, and BWL In The Media. We have already received a very positive response from families to the sixteen existing articles that now narrate the BWL story. In September, the website will deliver an even more accurate and aesthetically pleasing message about BWL. We hope you will enjoy the new design.
During these final days of summer, I wish to convey to you the enthusiasm with which all of us here look forward to the coming year. It is a peculiarity of academic life that September, not January, marks the new year, and that fall, not spring, is the time of new beginnings. In 2011-2012, as in the past, our mandate is to offer an education of the best quality, at once profoundly rooted in strong traditions and alert to every current in our changing world. It is my pleasure to welcome you and your children back to BWL during this time of renewal.
Sincerely yours,
Frank J. Carnabuci III
Headmaster