Boston Day & Evening Academy (BDEA) is an alternative high school near Dudley Square that serves over-age students who are at risk of dropping out or have already dropped out. What an amazing place! In last spring”s student newsletter, Lakiya Furtado-Betts wrote movingly about her experience: “I walked through BDEA”s doors with a closed mind and a broken heart, but now I’m leaving here with a smile on my face and so much to give.”
The school is open 12 hours/day and students are enrolled in a Day, Evening, or Distance Learning Program. BDEA is competency based, which means that classes are ungraded and students move at their own pace. Every three months new students enter and spend their first trimester in an intensive “Seminar” which introduces them to the culture and expectations of the school, assesses their academic strengths and needs, and helps place them in appropriate classes. Regular “Advisory” periods are built into the schedule to address students” personal challenges.
I was invited to visit BDEA by Head of School Beatriz Zapater, and welcomed by everyone I met. School secretary Tanairy Alvarado, a graduate of BDEA and current Quincy College nursing student, was especially helpful. My guide through the school was Arkeem Samuel, an articulate and enthusiastic young man who is working on his “Capstone” project prior to graduation. Capstone students do independent research, often related to a career they”re interested in pursuing.
We started in a science class, where Aaron Stone was leading a discussion of the ways fast food companies load up on addictive substances such as fat, salt, and sugar. In another class, students had examined a sheep”s brain and were learning about the human nervous system. One student handed me his “creative writing” piece about the journey a breath of air takes after it enters the body!
BDEA”s administrators, teachers, students, former students, and a host of support staff working together make for a remarkable learning community. Math teacher Chris Johnson and his colleagues all commented on the sense of “family” at BDEA.