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OUTstanding Speaker Series welcomes poet Jill McDonough

OUTstanding Speaker Series welcomes poet Jill McDonough

A poet, a prison teacher and the third OUTstanding Speaker Series presenter, Jill McDonough shared her poetry and stories to a crowd of students in the MLK room on Wednesday, Nov. 1 during T and X-block.

Lively students filled every chair in the MLK room when Jill McDonough, a queer poet, came to talk about her work and life in the LGBTQ+ community on Wednesday, Nov. 1 during T and X-block. McDonough was invited to speak at the OUTstanding Speaker Series, a monthly event where a queer person comes to talk to students.

During the event, McDonough shared some of her poems. One of these poems, called “Dear Gaybashers,” was about how she handles oppression: by laughing it off. She said she doesn’t get treated as poorly as some other members of the LGBTQ+ community, so she tries to help others.

“The most important part for me is to use my privilege instead of focusing on ways that I don’t have enough,” McDonough said.

During the event, McDonough discussed her career. She taught incarcerated college students through Boston University’s Prison Education Program for 13 years and now teaches at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She also teaches people who were recently released from prison and volunteers at a juvenile facility. She said she loves working with her students and that it is amazing to see how people feel once they get out of prison.

“[Getting out of jail] changes everything. It’s really great to be alive, and it’s really great to be free,” McDonough said. “If you are not thinking about that constantly, you’re missing out on how great it is.”

Sophomore Noah Krewinghaus helped set up this month’s speaker event. They said McDonough’s engaging presence ignited enthusiasm for poetry and self-expression among students.

“[This event] is really important because Jill is out and queer in a way that a lot of people struggle with in high school,” Krewinghaus said.

Freshman Arya Kheder has attended every OUTstanding Speaker Series event this year. They said these events are important because they focus on how people integrate their queerness into their lives rather than solely focusing on the challenges they face because of their queerness.

“[The speakers’ presentations] can be about writing, can be about photography, can be about queer people doing things like anyone else and being less alienated,” Kheder said.

Terry Jewell, one of the coordinators of the OUTstanding Speaker Series, said the series was created for her daughter who passed away.

“She was transgender, and we were trying to figure out where we were going to have people donate in her memory,” Jewell said. “We heard staff here at BHS wanted to do this speaker series, so we jumped on board and said, ‘That’s it.’ All of the donations are paying for [the series] for the whole year.”

Jewell said she thinks these events are important for everyone who attends, no matter how they identify.

“[The series is designed for all students] to hear successful people talk about their lives and work to show that queer people are also successful,” Jewell said. “We also really want [the speakers] to inspire the queer students here at BHS to help them know that yes, they can be successful too and their identity is part of their success.”

Byline photo of Josephine Ross, Staff Writer • November 3, 2023

JOSEPHINE ROSS/CYPRESS STAFF

OUTstanding Speaker Series debuts

OUTstanding Speaker Series debuts

The first OUTstanding Speakers Series session provides an enriching exchange of ideas and experiences as “Portraits of Pride” curator Jean Dolin speaks about his life, queerness, identity and self-expression. The event took place in the MLK room on Thursday, Sept. 28 during T- and X-block.

Shuffling into the MLK room, students and staff huddled together to listen to the first speaker from the OUTstanding Speaker Series, “Portraits of Pride” creative director Jean Dolin, who discussed the importance of identity and self-expression on Thursday, Sept. 28 during T- and X-block.

As they entered the room, students were greeted by Dolin and discussion facilitators sophomore Alma Ferreira and senior Ezra Weintraub. During the event, Dolin gave attendees advice on how to navigate coming out to family members who may have a limited view of queer life. He acknowledged parents may have a hard time accepting their children’s true identities, but that acceptance is necessary in order for children to have a safe environment where they can express themselves.

“If people don’t see you, don’t love you, don’t understand you, they simply don’t have the capacity to,” Dolin said.

For his work as the curator of “Portraits of Pride”, a photography exhibit showcasing LGBTQ+ leaders in Boston, Dolin was chosen to be a member of the 2023 cohort of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Local: Boston. He was born in Haiti and moved to the United States in 2012 at age 16. He came to America reckoning with his sexual orientation and said he had a vision of creating a Boston that fosters a safe environment for freedom of expression that stretches to all aspects of diversity, including LGBTQ+ identities, neurodivergence and more.

Many students asked Dolin questions about being queer. Freshman Arya Kheder said this was their first time talking to an LGBTQ+ leader, and their conversations with Dolin allowed them to think and speak freely about their queer identity for the first time.

“He was so good at making me feel like I was being seen. I felt like I was being understood,” Kheder said. “This gave me more courage, inspiration and ambition.”

The audience was made up of students and staff from different affinity groups and safe spaces, like the African American and Latino Scholars Program, the Gender Sexuality Alliance, the Queer Action Club, School Within a School and the LGBTQ+ wellness class. Dolin said he appreciates the school’s efforts to create these communities that support various student identities.

“This school really cares about you all to have put this together, and you have really amazing teachers and faculty that you can reach out to,” Dolin said.

The OUTstanding Speaker Series, a monthly event subsidized by the Brookline High School Innovation Fund, honors the legacy of the late Vivian Jewell ‘20. Terry Jewell, her mother, said she wanted the event to inspire LGBTQ+ youth to visualize successful futures by engaging in discussions with role models within the community.

“I want the students who do identify as queer to feel comfortable in that, to celebrate that,” Jewell said. “[I want them] to think, ‘Here is someone who is successful. I can be successful too, and I can feel good about who I am.’”

Julienne Montrond, News Editor

Sharing Innovation Fund courses, programs, and efforts as we conclude 22-23…

Sharing Innovation Fund courses, programs, and efforts as we conclude 22-23…

Dear BHS Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers,

I have pledged further communication as we end the year and am trying my darndest to follow through and share more information as we end the 2022-23 school year. One point of pride for me as I end another year at Brookline High School is how we create, refine, and institutionalize excellent courses, programs, and thinking. We certainly innovate within our high school and district budgets. At BHS, we are fortunate to have powerful, generous partners like the BEF, PTO, Brookline Community Foundation, and many more.

I write this afternoon to share about the impact of Brookline High School Innovation Fund programing on our students, staff, and school community. Below is an attempt at capturing which programs and courses the Brookline High School Innovation Fund helped bring us in 2022-23, including what we integrated into the PSB budget and what we have planned for 2023-24. These are exciting times, and I am glad to have the Innovation Fund as a key partner in creating the school culture and program our young people need and deserve.

Please note some of the course and program descriptions are pulled from the Innovation Fund website; while I sign this communication, my hand is one of many within the fund and across our school district who help our educators chase their best ideas for helping young people feel as though they belong and will be engaged, challenged, and supported to learn and grow as students, citizens, and human beings.

New Program for 2023-24: Queer Student Program

I am excited to announce the creation of The Queer Student Program (QSP), a new addition to BHS designed to support LGBTQ students throughout their experience at the high school. For decades, the student-run club known as the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) attempted to fill this role, but as the LGBTQ student body at BHS has grown, it has become increasingly necessary to also expand our support system for this community. The new Queer Student Program includes two course offerings: a new Wellness course and a 12th grade elective called “The History & Science of Sex and Gender.” The QSP also offers critical affinity programming.

Starting next year, there will be a 9th grade Hub/Advisory class specifically for LGBTQ students. We will also launch the “OUTstanding Speaker Series” in collaboration with other school affinity groups, such as African American and Latino Scholars Program (AALSP) and the AAPI Leadership and Affinity Program (LEAP).

The Queer Student Program is the brainchild of teachers Stephen Eesley (Social Studies), Kate Leslie (Social Studies), and Julia Mangan (Science). Stephen, Kate, and Julia worked closely together and with members of the Wellness Department to create programming and course offerings for our LGBTQ students. The QSP provides very concrete ways for our LGBTQ youth to be seen and heard, engaged and supported.

Using Innovation Fellow work to Re-develop Social Justice

During the 2022-23 school year, School Within a School English teacher Keira Flynn-Carson served as our Innovation Fellow. Keira has been at BHS since 2004 – as an English teacher, Special Educator, SWS leader, and force for goodness. As part of Keira’s Innovation Fellowship this year, she explored ethics as a critical force in driving change – primarily in the area of sex and consent education but also in a wide array of human relationship contexts.

This interesting and important work will now find a home in a reimagined Social Justice course at BHS. The program will involve academic study (Psychology, Ethics, History, Sociology) as it relates to social justice topics and movements and prepares students to take action through internships and school/community improvement projects – all guided by the ethics of care.

The Social Justice Leadership Program was conceived in 2007 with support from the Brookline High School Innovation Fund. Roger Grande and Kate Leslie have taught and led the program since then. With Roger now focused on Global Leadership (another Innovation Fund program) and Kate helping lead the newest Fund venture (QSP) Social Justice needed new leadership. Keira’s work on ethics within her Innovation Fellowship seems like an ideal lens through which to re-think Social Justice post-pandemic and impact Brookline High School students for years to come.

Continuing in 2023-24: SEL-T, Data Science, and Climate Science

Social Emotional Learning Tutorial (SEL-T)

In 2002, the Innovation Fund seeded BHS Tutorial to support students needing individual, content-based tutoring in academic subjects. With student social-emotional needs rising dramatically in recent years, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, BHS faculty will continue to pilot a social-emotional learning section in the existing Tutorial structure. SEL-T helps students with social-emotional challenges learn to identify stressors, and develop coping and self-regulation strategies to support academic and social success at school. From this pilot, BHS faculty plans to train more faculty in SEL pedagogy with the hopes of integrating SEL into courses across the curriculum.

Data Science and Social Justice

This data science course, proposed by the Math Department in collaboration with Special Education, uses problems related to a variety of social justice topics to learn the skills necessary to analyze data, understand sampling, distinguish correlation from causation, recognize bias, and use probability and modeling to create and support data-based arguments. Topics may include social justice issues related to racism, healthcare inequities, political underrepresentation, and gun violence. Students learn how to use spreadsheets, coding (python or R) and data analysis technology to aid them in their research.

Climate Science and Social Solutions

​​Climate Science and Social Solutions is an interdisciplinary, team-taught senior-year elective with instruction from both the scientific and historical perspectives. The course enables students to engage in project-based learning by analyzing real world policy options related to climate change, and then research and posit definable and effective solutions. The goal is to have seniors engage in advocacy campaigns designed to shape perceptions on climate change and encourage personal mitigation strategies.

Integrated into the BHS/PSB Budget

Creating new courses, programs, and curricula is part of the Fund’s core mission. As a school and school system, we need to figure out how to institutionalize what the Innovation Fund helps our educators create and refine. This way, Brookline students can continue to enjoy and benefit from Fund-born programming for years to come.

Hub Advisory

Hub/Advisory, supported by an Innovation Fund grant in Fall 2019, has as its principal goal community building among students and a faculty advisor in a non-evaluative setting. During the pandemic, it became an important source of support for isolated students and an opportunity for teachers to reach out to build connections with students in a different environment. As pandemic disruptions and construction delays limited the original vision of Hub’s implementation, this grant extension will allow faculty to train new faculty to be advisors and expand the program into a four-year experience for BHS students.

Rethinking the Restaurant (Tappan Green)

Rethinking the BHS Restaurant integrates a long-time high school program more cohesively into curricular and co-curricular experiences for the entire BHS community, with students taking the lead in running its business operations in meaningful and creative ways. Faculty are excited by the multifaceted opportunities for innovation where the restaurant has potential as a lab for interdisciplinary learning with a social impact lens. For example, the restaurant could be a place where English Language Learners could introduce dishes from their home cultures as a special menu item; World Language teachers and students could work with the culinary program to design “take-over” menus for cultural observations or holidays; and students in Social/Food Justice or Environmental Action clubs could team with our culinary program to understand and improve how to sustainably run our business. Rethinking Restaurant opens up outstanding experiential learning opportunities for students not only in the restaurant itself, but also for a diverse range of students in clubs, courses, and throughout the campus.

This summer, Britt Stevens, our Curriculum Coordinator for Career and Technology Education (CTE) is pulling together an Innovation Summit for high school faculty and staff that focuses on Beginnings and Endings. The summit, funded by the BHS Innovation Fund, will help us move forward with ongoing work to re-think ninth grade at BHS as well as how we might continue to re-consider senior year. Ninth grade and senior year are critical priority areas for Brookline High School in the next three years, and I am excited and grateful that the Innovation Fund will help us brainstorm ideas and eventually turn them into concrete, engaging learning experiences for our students, current and future.

Thanks much and take care,

Anthony Meyer, Head of School

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  • 617-713-5201
  • 115 Greenough St Brookline, MA 02445

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