Dear Families and Staff,
The summer months bring reflection that offers a vital pause—a time to transform our hindsight into foresight. Today, we celebrate the extraordinary achievements of our students in our annual reflection, and we honor or Class of 2025 graduates from BASIS Independent Brooklyn as they embark on their university journeys.
Academic excellence unites every corner of our school. We harness data from across our BASIS Independent Schools network not just to measure progress, but also to illuminate paths forward. This is how we master both the art and science of education—turning insight into inspiration and potential into achievement.
This past school year, nearly 70% of our students earned the AP Scholar designation (scoring a 3 or higher on at least three AP Exams). This impressive result is consistent with year-over-year scores, showcasing our program’s strength. Also, in high school, we celebrated our National Merit Scholarship Finalists, Maxwell H. and Gustavo P., and we proudly celebrated three Commended Scholars: James R., Maxim S., and Ryan T. ’25.
We cheered on Gustavo P. ’25 for being named a Presidential Scholarship candidate, joining a total of nine seniors named to the distinction across our network. At the end of the year, we were thrilled to learn that Maxim S. ’25 won the Fellows Scholarship for the best Senior Project across our network. The award is an honor in and of itself and comes with a $10,000 scholarship to college.
Let’s also take a moment to reflect on our seventh graduating senior class! More than 60% of students were offered seats at universities in the top 30-ranked national and international institutions. Today, we can share that our students will matriculate at the following universities and colleges (listed by U.S. News rankings for national universities, liberal arts colleges, and then international universities):
- Stanford University (2), Duke University, Northwestern University, Cornell University (3), Washington University in St. Louis, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of Southern California, New York University, University of California-Irvine, Boston University, Rutgers University, University of Maryland, Purdue University (2), Northeastern University, American University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Hamilton College, Haverford College, and McGill University (2).
Celebrating Accomplishments
Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, one thing remained the same—student accomplishments across all grades reaffirmed the vision to hold ourselves to the highest standards. Our educators took pride in providing structure and stability to support content mastery.
Our students excelled in their studies, and their accomplishments outside the classroom made us incredibly proud. An overview of 2024–2025 student accolades and significant developments follows.
Fine Arts
- Scholastic Arts and Writing Competition: Eight of Mr. Opirhory’s Digital Photography students were honored in the 2025 awards. Students were recognized with the following regional awards: 3 Gold Keys, 3 Silver Keys, and 2 Honorable Mentions in photography.
- Our Upper School Choir was invited to perform at Radio City Music Hall before the Christmas Spectacular once again!
- Band student Nicole J. ’28 received an “Outstanding” ranking by the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) for her solo flute audition, performing Sicilienne, Op. 78 by Gabriel Faure at Level 6, the highest degree of difficulty.
- Choir student Katha A. ’30 received an “Outstanding” ranking by the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) for her rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
- Our Spring Musical, Shrek, was a rave hit. Upper School drama performances in elective classes were a wonderful celebration of creativity all year long.
- Our entire Fine Arts team at the Lower and Upper School hosted wonderful festivals before Winter Break and at the end of the school year.
Chess/Social Sciences/Languages
- Our Bears won the 3rd-place team in the very competitive U1400 division at the Chess Super Nationals! Our K—Gr. 6 U100 team came in 9th place, and Gr. 3 Milo S. went undefeated with 6 points to medal for second place in K—Gr. 3 Championships. There were many, many other chess accolades throughout the year.
- Our Bears earned 6th place in the 2025 All-Girls National Chess Championships in Chicago.
- Our inaugural DECA Club headed to the NY State Competition in Rochester, making our school proud.
- On the National Latin Exam, our students were decorated with honors: 6 students received Gold Summa Cum Laude, 9 students received Silver Maxima Cum Laude, 12 students received Magna Cum Laude, 13 students received Cum Laude recognition, and one Blue Certificate of Merit for the School.
- Nearly all the students in Mr. Bedes’ High School French classes sat for and passed the French DELF (certification) A1, A2, or B1 exams through L’Alliance NY.
- Mr. Bedes was proud to induct 16 members into our newly established French Honor Society.
- In the Chinese Bridge Competition, Gr. 4 Scottie F. won 3rd place in the Eastern Region. Two of our Gr. 3 students, Isabelle L. and Bathazar R., also received recognition!
Math/Science
- Our school won the New York State Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science (TEAMS) competition for High School. Thank you to Physics teacher and coach Josh Winter for continuing to grow the team.
- Our High School Robotics team Ori-Gen went to the Super Qualifier round of the FIRST Robotics Challenge after winning the Inspire Award 3rd place regionally. It was their first year of competition, and we look forward to another great year ahead.
- Once again, a large group of students sat for the MATH KANGAROO assessment for younger grades across both our campuses and comprised one of the largest groups yet to receive accolades from the organization.
- NOETIC Math accolades poured in with national winners across several grades across both of our campuses!
Sports
- Our Varsity Boys and Middle School Girls Tennis teams won the inaugural CPSAL Tennis Championships!
- Our Middle School Flag Football team won the CPSAL League Championships after an incredible season. Go Bears!!!
- Our Gr. 4-5 Co-ed Soccer Team won the CONSAT Championships. We are proud of our young student-athletes!
- Our Middle School Boys won the CPSAL Indoor Track Championship, and our Middle School Girls came in 3rd! High School Student Talia L. took first place in the Varsity Girls 1 mile and 800m.
- CPSAL Boys and Girls Cross Country Team: Our Bears had a great season, and the High School Boys team took home 2nd Place, High School Girls placed 3rd overall, and Middle School Boys placed 3rd overall.
- Our High School Flag Football and High School Boys Soccer teams made it to the league semi-finals
- CSAA Varsity and JV School Volleyball Team, as well as High School Flag Boys Flag Football, made it to the league playoffs.
- Our Varsity Girls Soccer Team had its first season, winning 2nd place in the CPSAL Spring Classic Tournament.
Community Involvement
- This year, our high school team arranged a Fourth Annual Day of Service in the fall to bring our community together and make a difference locally with nonprofits around Red Hook.
- Our National Honor and National Junior Honor Society students dedicated more than 2,000 hours to service projects this year!
- Our Lower and Upper school community donated hundreds of coats, scarves, hats, and more to our local Coat Drive in the fall.
- Our community created more than 200 Thanksgiving cards for Heights and Hills to deliver with their Thanksgiving meals to seniors.
- Students in our High School Program conducted a Red Hook Clean Up before Earth Day. They picked up 169 pounds of trash around the neighborhood.
These awards and examples of community involvement are an amazing testament to the school and the power of the curriculum and teachers. Most importantly, they are an incredible representation of our creative, diverse, driven scholars. It is important to us that as a school we prioritize opportunity, finding opportunities for students to showcase their skills, define their interests, and pursue their passions.
Looking Ahead
Without community, academic success is temporary and limited. We have made significant growth as a community this year, and it is our priority to support and grow in the year ahead under the guiding principles of BEARS–Belonging, Excellence, Accountability, Respect, and Service. Cultivating mutual respect and trust is key for our school after eleven years in Brooklyn.
Teachers continue to express to us that they love this school because they are allowed to teach the subjects they know best, the way they know best. They are allowed to share their passion for their subjects with their students, and this builds engagement. We are excited to bring new faculty into the fold and continue supporting veteran teachers returning to our campus.
As we close our thoughts on the year, we want to salute our Class of 2025 for shaping our sense of community and traditions at our school. What we want to ask from our alumni and parents is to help provide professional advice and even connect our students after they graduate to internships and opportunities as part of our expanded mentorship program.
Overall, we want our students to look back, feel a great sense of pride in their school, and share in the school’s success that they helped create. We have much to celebrate, and we are in an exciting position after eleven years of educating students in Brooklyn. We truly look forward to the year ahead!
BASIS Independent Brooklyn is a PreK–Grade 12 private school, providing students with an internationally benchmarked liberal arts and sciences curriculum, with advanced STEM offerings. Considering joining the Bears community? To join our interest list for the next school year, please click here.
