What students say about BCL:

The experience

“I remember at one point we were sitting in a circle and I looked around and thought, there is not one person in this room I have not had a conversation with. There is not one person who I have not become friends with. That speaks to the community you helped us build.”

“My favorite part [about BCL] is the community we are building. Usually in school I feel really alone, I sit in the back and I don’t talk to anyone… But here, it feels completely different. There is a lot more time to get to know each other and it makes us feel like each of us are an important part of the group. Now I want to come to school just to see everyone.”

“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, but it has meant so much to me to learn with such a diversity of people in this class. I truly think that in terms of my capacity as an empathetic, aware human being I have grown so much because of this.”

The academics

“I felt like the learning we did was driven by curiosity and inquiry, and it was super engaging. Plus, I felt empowered because it felt like we were being treated as adults in a real world working environment.”

“BCL feels different from school because it just doesn’t feel like school. It feels more like we’re doing fun stuff and then reflecting on it. I also like how we are in close contact with our teachers. I think the relationships feel great.”

“There are some classes at school where you can get a good grade without truly investing yourself in the material, but at BCL if you do the bare minimum it’s lame. And nobody really does. The environment is really amazing for learning, because it feels like everyone cares, and wants to learn.”

“Meeting with our many community partners through our program has been a wonderful hands-on experience. We learned about things that matter through people who are passionate about their jobs. Over the BCL semester I have grown to understand not only the difference between education and learning, but also the importance in doing something meaningful with my life, and doing something that I care about.”

“It really different between BCL and traditional classroom, I like BCL because homework feels important. Also the students they can learn outside the room and most of all I like it the teachers can hear every students in the classroom.”

Parent voices:

“The BCL program has been the best thing about her high school experience… She enjoyed the curriculum and was interested and engaged by the hands on, real life applications of what she was learning… The effects on her have been remarkable… she felt part of something; and, academically she has become a better writer, a clearer thinker and quite capable of making mature decisions about her future personal and educational goals.”

“My daughter was bored in her sophomore year before the BCL semester. BCL pulled her out of this… and  helped her to understand how to embody the role of a learner, and to feel connected to what she was learning and who she was learning with. It really was an awakening for her, and in talking with other parents, this effect wasn’t limited to my daughter.”

“Without a doubt the BCL experience was the high point of [my daughter’s] 13 years of school. At BCL — which she attended without an individual aide — the uniqueness that [she] brought to the group was celebrated, and she was respected, valued and fully included. This created an atmosphere in which [she] felt safe to take academic and social risks…. As a result her learning took off.”