Each semester, Burlington City & Lake Semester students step away from a familiar way of “doing school,” and try something new. Some arrive ready to dive in, others are understandably wary. After all, BCL is different in innumerable ways. But in a matter of days, we are all in the flow.

We begin each day with Morning Meetings filled with laughter. We deepen our connection with friends, new and old. And with each new community partner who welcomes us into their world, our circle grows wider.

BCL is different than conventional school because you get real world experiences where you have the chance to be learning so many vast things. It feels more engaging, and makes it so much easier to learn and have fun by being involved in the community, fighting real problems…It’s also a way for students to have a voice in their community by visiting them and asking them questions their community faces. BCL for me stands for Brilliant Creative Learners.

• Najib

A few things stand out about the BCL experience. For one, the classroom community feels much tighter as compared with a normal classroom…I feel like I can talk and connect with almost anyone in the class. Another thing that stands out about the feeling of BCL is it just feels better to be there…Getting outside, moving about, and talking and engaging with community members just lifts the energy of the classroom experience.

• Keats

It feels freeing to be in BCL. Rather than coming in every day and being told what I’m going to learn, what I’m going to talk about, what assignment I’m going to have to do, what targets I have to meet, I get to set my own goals, and that’s really freeing. Where conventional school feels monotonous at times, with BCL, I get variety.

It also feels really good to be learning from real world experiences rather than your classroom… It’s also really important to think about the impacts that we are making as students on these community partners [we meet with]. It’s really cool to understand the idea that we’re making changes just by being here and learning.

• Adele

Being in BCL feels great. It just feels a lot better than it would be if I was in a classroom for the whole day. It helps me a lot, and makes me feel more locked in… It’s great and just helps me stay more focused. To be honest, I say I learn more from BCL than back at school because it’s helpful, it’s great, and even though we’re learning it doesn’t feel like it’s just hard work we can’t do. When I go to BCL, or just chill here, it feels different. It doesn’t even feel like a class really, because of all the fun stuff we do.

• Aime

It feels very refreshing, and it gives me a better sense of purpose in the work I am doing. In a classroom a lot of the time it seems like I am only doing work to meet deadlines and check boxes of what teachers are supposed to be teaching us, but here we are able to control our learning and find deeper meaning behind the topics we talk about. I also am gaining more perspective and respect for our city that I likely wouldn’t have gained if I was still in a classroom. Seeing how much all of our community partners do behind the scenes is something I think everyone should get to experience so they can better appreciate and respect all of the systems in Burlington.

• Frances

I love learning from real world experiences, because it really shows you what is happening in the world and is not just handed to you on a sheet of paper. I learn way better when the thing I’m learning about is right in front of me and I can interact with it as well. One activity that has been most memorable to me, was probably the time we had Mikey Van Gulden come into our classroom and talked about the [power of] empathy, and I just loved all of the stories that he was sharing with all of us. It was really eye opening, and I really wish there were more people like Mikey in this world.

• Carter

BCL feels different but it’s something I would much rather be doing. The projects we do feel like school, but they aren’t as stressful. It feels good, because we are doing things where the notes we take [in our journals] are for our Expo assignments, every two weeks, and I love that. This is better than being in a classroom that isn’t giving me these real world experiences.

• Selma

BCL is very different. Here we learn about the community and how everything works or does not work. At school I just learn math, science, reading and writing. On the walk with Neil at Battery Park, I learned about the homeless issue and people sleeping outside. It was very cold and made me feel sad for the people sleeping outside.

• Blu

I think that it’s better because you get to experience things that school doesn’t have. School may teach you some things about our society, but they don’t really go in-depth — but BCL has firsthand experience, and really goes into depth about it. One moment that I thought was impactful was when we really [got to see] how our community looks at the homeless situation around us, and seeing people not having the same privileges as us was eye-opening.

• Imraan

In BCL, we get the opportunity to…go out in the community and work with and help others, which is something you don’t really get to experience often in regular high school. Yeah, there are those few times when maybe your class gets to take a field trip somewhere but its more likely to still be more focused on work, rather than being part of the place. A specific place we went that stuck with me was when we went to IAA and asked them about what they think a healthy/happy community should have. This moment stuck with me because I’ve always loved working with younger kids. Getting to hear their thoughts and perspectives on this question was such a unique experience, not only for us but for them.

• Callee

In BCL, it feels like I’m more free. I feel like I can do more things than I could do in a classroom, such as being able to take initiative and being able to express things as a peer—both with classmates and with community partner—and not just as a student. This feels empowering. 

For me, the most memorable moment was going to the elementary school and being with the children. I say this because it allowed me to feel like I  was a kid again. Being there I felt like I was coming back as a mentor, to kids who were just like me, and that made me feel warm inside. 

• Mahdi

Learning from real world experiences has been very eye opening for me. I feel like I have been very engaged in the activities we have been doing and have retained a lot of information through this engagement. Getting the opportunity to meet and talk with community partners who are actively working to help our community thrive has been really cool. To be able to ask them questions and get responses from the very people who are doing the important work has brought me significantly more understanding and an incentive to dive deeper. Engaging with partners from the Spatial Analysis Lab, and others whose work has real world impacts, has made me personally more motivated to think about my sense of place and civic engagement. What are the roles and impacts I am having or can have on the community?

• Welcome

Learning from real world experiences feels a lot more impactful than being in a classroom. Learning in the real world, you are able to see different and real perspectives and see how that can impact you personally. Also real world experiences and hands on learning sticks better with me, and I feel that I understand it better because instead of a teacher just telling me what it is, I get to see for myself and come up with my own thoughts and opinions.

• Hannah

I like how BCL gives me an opportunity to write whatever comes to mind without worrying if my writing is good looking and in order. It makes me add my personal opinion which is different. In school, [when I am] writing a final project essay, I just have to write something that would look good for the document. I like that when writing something either in my BCL journal or on assignments I have the opportunity to include my personal voice.

• Dunia

Being in BCL feels welcoming, and it gives everyone a space to be themselves and be comfortable. There’s never a dull moment at BCL. Every day something new gets brought in, and you’re able to connect with others you wouldn’t think you would have…Yes, school teaches you stuff, but it doesn’t really teach you what you need in the outside world whereas BCL brings you out into your community teaching you about the problems people are facing and as you learn you’re able to help along the way.

• Taiya

To me BCL is a very fun and unique experience. We have all been through the traditional sitting-in-a-chair-and-listening-to-the-teacher-speak type of school. This whole idea of taking it into the real word is just fascinating. It’s definitely something that I would love to recommend to my other peers at the school. It sort of feels like a privilege — being able to be outside and in the city or being back at our home base and having fun while the other kids at school are doing the normal type of school…We all found out about this opportunity and I decided to take the opportunity so I get to enjoy it. Maybe for some people they would rather do the traditional school, but they will also never know if they’ll like BCL unless they take the chance. That is defintely a reason why I would recommend it to the people at school and to try and convince them to actually take the chance.

• Michee