B.U. Bridge is published by the Boston University Office of University Relations.

Contact Us

Staff

BU Academy graduates come to campus as students -- leave as scholars

By Brian Fitzgerald

What options do you have when your printer breaks down at 1 a.m. — on the morning your senior thesis is due? Accept an F? Beg your teacher for a deadline extension? John Agostino, one of two student speakers from the BU Academy’s Class of 2000, found himself in this predicament a month ago.

	"Reap the harvest of today." BU Academy senior Jenny Chen reads a passage from Horace's Odes - in Latin - at the school's diploma ceremony. Photo by Vernon Doucette

Fortunately, in this information age, there are 24-hour copy centers that have compatible printers. “My mom was still awake to drive me to Kinko’s and get me back to bed at 3 a.m.,” he recalled at the Academy diploma ceremony May 22 at the Tsai Performance Center.

Some people might think that requiring high school students to write an 8,000-word research paper is cruel and unusual punishment. But it would be a mistake to underestimate the intellectual capability of Boston University Academy seniors, who earn up to 48 college credits at BU by the time they get their diplomas.

Writing lengthy term papers is a crucial part of college life, and, to be sure, BU Academy students gain plenty of experience in this activity. Agostino remembered how he and his classmates, after more than a few nights with little sleep, “sometimes crossed the threshold of insanity as we made our last corrections in the early morning hours.”
Were the late nights and the bloodshot eyes worth it? Kenneth Bacow, who also delivered an address at the ceremony, put his feelings about his alma mater this way: “At Boston University Academy, we entered as students, and we leave as scholars.”

BU President Jon Westling, noting the lack of choices nationally for parents who seek a rigorous education for their children, said that Boston University Academy is a visible refutation of the “cynical and mistaken view” that American high school students don’t have the capacity to achieve at the highest level. “BU Academy is a shining example of what is possible,” he said.

Indeed, Jennifer Hickman, BU Academy’s acting head of school, pointed out that seven of this year’s 21 seniors achieved a 3.5 grade point average or better in all of their University classes. Moreover, Brown University– bound Adam Kenney, who graduated magna cum laude, averaged a perfect 4.0 in BU courses. Kenney, along with Jenny Chen, received medals for outstanding achievement in the national Latin exam.

Hickman added that the Class of 2000 is the sixth — not the fifth — graduating class: in May 1995, Christopher Douglas was the Academy’s first graduate, entering MIT at the age of 15. He was recently awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. “Each of you on this stage is far above the national average in terms of academic ability,” she said.
The Class of 2000 returned the compliment by having Westling present Hickman with an honorary diploma. Hickman has been acting head of school since BU Academy Headmaster Peter Schweich resigned last summer. Dr. James Tracy, an adjunct professor of history at UMass-Boston and an assistant to BU Chancellor John Silber, will become headmaster on July 1.

“I’d like to express my gratitude to Jennifer Hickman, who stepped into the role of acting head of school with her customary energy and dedication,” said Westling. “I’d also like to express pleasure and delight at the good fortune of having found, in Dr. James Tracy, a person who is superbly and perhaps uniquely suited to lifting the Academy to its next stage of development.”

16 June 2000
Boston University
Office of University Relations