Leaves have been falling from the ginkgo tree on Main Street: Legend has it that if you catch one before it hits the ground, you'll have good luck.

Schedule Alerts

• Nov. 21: Thanksgiving Break begins. Students may depart after their last commitment.
• Nov. 22: Dormitories close for the break at 12 p.m.
• Dec. 1: All boarders must return by 9 p.m.
• Dec. 7: Holiday concert in the Center for the Arts theater at 3 p.m.
• Dec. 9: Winterfest Rock Concert in the Black Box theater at 7 p.m.
• Dec. 13: Community Weekend
• Dec. 13-18: Exhibitions of Learning (EOLs)
• Dec. 18: Lessons & Carols festivities begin at 5:30 p.m., required
• Dec. 18: Winter Break: Students may depart after the programming on Thursday evening (more details below), but are encouraged to leave on Friday, Dec. 19.
• Dec. 19: Dormitories close for the break at 3 p.m.
• Jan. 5: All boarders must return from Winter Break by 9 p.m.

Academics

AP United States Government and Politics students tried to pass an election reform bill during a mock session at The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate in Boston on Friday.

Student Life

Winter Break Transportation

• Brooks will provide a shuttle to Boston's Logan Airport, South Station train depot, and C&J Coach in Seabrook, NH at the beginning of Winter Break.
• All shuttles will depart on Friday, Dec. 19.
• Please reference the School Break Transportation Shuttle Information for more detailed information.
• You may sign your student up for the winter break shuttles here. If you have more than one student to sign up, please submit the form individually for each student.
• Families are responsible for arranging return transportation for their students. 
• For questions about attendance and travel for Winter Break, contact Associate Director of Student Affairs Cora MacKenzie.

Lessons & Carols/Winter Break Departure

Our annual end-of-year Chapel service, Lessons & Carols; formal advisory dinner; and a community event will be held on Thursday, December 18, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

This is a formal occasion where students are expected to adhere to our formal occasion dress expectations. The service, meal and community event will end at 9:45 p.m. 

Boarding students should plan on departing campus on Friday, December 19 by 3 p.m. See the note above about Brooks-provided transportation on Friday, December 19.

Please note: Some winter teams will stay on campus for tournaments on Friday night.

Holiday Gift Giving Time

Our “Through Brooks” holiday gift initiative is back! We are partnering with the Lawrence and Haverhill Boys & Girls Clubs and the Community Giving Tree to donate holiday gifts to the children they serve. “Through Brooks,” first launched in 2018, is our school’s version of a “giving tree.” How does it work?

• Posters will be located outside the Deans’ Den from Dec. 2 to Dec. 16. On the “Through Brooks” board, students will find cards listing specific gifts. They take the card(s) for the gift(s) they’d like to donate. 
• After purchasing the gift(s), students bring them to the donation box in the Deans’ Den. 
• With their donations, givers have the opportunity to earn tickets, which they can use at Student Activities’ “Big Bingo/Auction” event on Dec. 13 (Details to come regarding this event).
• Here is a sneak peek of the list of desired items (in case families want to purchase them during Thanksgiving Break). 
• Thank you in advance for participating in this wonderful opportunity for Brooks to give back to our community!

Athletics

Signing day! On Monday, Kamryn Shumsky '26 (front left) made her commitment to the women's rowing program at Rutgers University and Elsa Wood '26 (front middle) made her commitment to play field hockey at Lafayette College official.

Best Teammate Awards

Congratulations to the honorees from Friday’s "best teammate" awards (see the photo album):

• Community service: Max Frasca ’28, Louisa Vanderweil ’27
• Advanced Strength and Conditioning: Emma Nagle ’26, Marcus Pukel ’27, Kingston Woolley ’29
• 2nd field hockey: Ashley Caiazzo ’27, Bailey Burke ’29
• 2nd boys soccer: Shawn Wei ’26
• 2nd girls soccer: Cassie Ling ’29
• 3rd boys soccer: Angel Asamoah-Mono ’28
• 3rd girls soccer: Grace Pilkington ’26 and Ella Salhanick ’26
• 2nd volleyball: Musie Jiang ’28, Addie (Adelaide) Fruh ’29
• 2nd football: James Paterson ’29
• 2nd cross country: Pilar Bell ’27, Kevin Xie ’27
• Theater, performance: Ainslie Gorton ’26, Giada Musto ’26
• Theater, tech: Suki Liu ’27, Henry Stephens ’29

Arts

Congratulations, Musicians!

Last weekend, four Brooks students were accepted into the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) Senior District music ensembles, making them among the top high schoolers on their instrument in all of northeastern Massachusetts: Ava Valianti ’27 and Phoebe Dooling ’27 made the district chorus as alto singers, and Ivy Zhao ’26 (oboe) and Jimmy Nagle ’27 (cello) made the district orchestra. Of those four, three (Dooling, Valianti and Zhao) scored in the top 20 to 25 percent of all auditioners for senior district ensembles and received recommendations to audition for all-state ensembles in January.

In a separate audition process a few weeks ago, Valianti was also accepted into the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Eastern Region Honor Choir from a record number of applicants hailing from the Washington, D.C., area all the way up to Maine.

From left: Nagle, Dooling and Valianti (Zhao not shown).

Winter Concert: Dec. 7

Join us in our Center for the Arts theater on Dec. 7 at 3 p.m. for our annual Winter Concert! There will be performances by the Jazz Band, Advanced Jazz Band, Chorus and Chamber Orchestra, plus a big, combined holiday-themed number at the end featuring all these groups together plus members of Arts Exploratory and Brooks Harmony. The concert will last about 90 minutes and is open to all members of the extended Brooks community: employees, family and friends. You don't want to miss it!

Winterfest Rock Concert: Dec. 9

Come rock out in the Black Box theater! This one-night-only event on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. will feature performances from Brooks' Rock Band and Advanced Rock Band. Both groups have been working hard all term to be able to present their full setlists to you. You'll hear some Nirvana, Smash Mouth, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Elton John and more. Seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

On Sunday, the Brooks Gospel Choir performed a joint concert with the William Thomas Gospel Choir of Phillips Academy in Andover's Cochran Chapel.

Family Programs

Starbrooks is on Dec. 11!

Starbrooks is our version of Starbucks, featuring an expansive hot chocolate bar, donuts, chocolate-covered pretzels and more. To bring this festive event to our campus on Dec. 11, we are asking for parents and guardians to please consider one of the following options:

• Purchase candy or other winter-themed treats for the day from our Amazon Wishlist.
• Check out the SignUpGenius to sign up to volunteer at the event, purchase donuts for the event or purchase a gift card to be used as raffle items. 
• Venmo a contribution in the amount of your choosing to Jen Pagliuca (@Jennifer-Pagliuca) to help underwrite the event.

Thank you to co-chairs Elena Foster P’26, P’27, Adrienne Principe P’26, P’27, P’28, Aybike Crott P’25, P’28 and Jen Pagliuca P’25, P’29, P’29 for coordinating this event! Any questions? Please contact one of the co-chairs or Director of Alumni and Family Programs Sara Bird.