Bronx Leadership Academy II, much like its sister school, Bronx Leadership Academy, was created by a team of teachers, parents, students and community organizations in order to provide the youth of the South Bronx with an innovative, college-preparatory program.  The success of Bronx Leadership Academy provided the inspiration to open another school, founded on similar principles of community leadership and academic achievement; this new school, however, would offer a focus in the sciences, rather than law (BLA's focus).  BLA II would train young people to be leaders through the sciences -- to be stewards for the environment, activists for environmental justice and leaders in a field that is often underrepresented by people of color.

 

Now completing our fourth year, we are already well on our way to meeting those initial goals.  Our ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth-graders, who come to school dressed professionally in black skirts/pants and white button-down shirts (the boys also wear ties), follow a rigorous academic course load, with two science courses per year.  They learn research skills through inquiry-based science projects, which are exhibited at the annual science fair.  Science curricula include examination of the current critical environmental issues, particularly the role of humanity in creating problems and the potential for humanity to solve them.  Students investigate all disciplines using the tools of scientific inquiry; teachers in all subject areas make connections between their subjects and the world of science, and many teachers collaborate on interdisciplinary projects. 

 

Academic work is supplemented by an outdoor education program (through Christadora) and by a partnership with the Bronx Zoo and a local community garden. We began raising fish this year and hope to extend this program next year to more hands-on opportunities to work with living things (including the plants of a school garden) in and out of the classroom.

 

In addition to becoming amateur scientists through intensive science and math coursework, BLA II students explore literature, humanities, history, foreign language and electives/clubs ranging from needlework to creative writing to chess to drama to leadership.  We provide additional support to our students through a weekly advisory program (in which students participate in community meetings, discuss their concerns, air grievances and learn how to become a community); individual meetings with teachers, guidance counselors and advisors; biweekly tutoring and Regents' prep courses.  Our physical education program in the last year offered students a choice of dance, basketball and running.  Next fall we will have to offer physical education during the school day, but these physical education opportunities will continue as extracurricular activities and clubs.