March 26, 2023
Dear Fellow Bronx Science Parents and Guardians,
It’s been a busy week for students at Bronx Science, but for the Parents’ Association, the undisputed highlight of the week was the opportunity to help showcase our wonderful school at the Accepted Students Open House.
Student and parent volunteers alike all braved the chill to welcome accepted students with a corridor of joy as they approached the entrance to the school. Upon arrival, more parents welcomed them in the lobby and helped answer questions as they entered the auditorium for a welcome program and slide show presented by the school. After the presentations, student volunteers escorted the accepted families around the school and down to the cafeteria, where they were greeted by administrators, club members, NHS volunteers, and more parents who were answering questions, selling merchandise, and helping parents figure out how to navigate transportation options.
Many thanks to Open House Co-Chairs Jennifer Allen-Cheng and Xia (Lisa) Li for your extraordinary effort. We also thank Hospitality Co-Chairs Lilach Bar and Kosaku Shinoda for providing pizza for the student volunteers, and Merchandise Manager Chris Hardwood for managing one of our biggest merchandise events of the year. This huge undertaking also required a ton of volunteers who we wholeheartedly thank. See the spotlight post below.
Did you miss the excitement? We have more opportunities to volunteer coming up in April! First, on April 25th, we will be hosting the National Honor Society Induction Ceremony and Dinner. We need volunteers from 3:00 PM-7:00 PM to help our Hospitality Team and Junior student volunteers set up, serve, and clean up dinner for the Senior NHS honorees and their guests. Parents of Junior members, this is a great opportunity to get a sneak preview of what your celebration will look like next year, and to help your kids in service to their peers and school. The link to sign up is here.
Then, on April 26th, Bronx Science hosts a College Fair for Sophomore and Junior students. Afterwards, we need volunteers to help our hardworking Hospitality Team serve their second dinner in two days to the college representatives. The link to sign up can be found here.
Also in April, mark your calendars for our PA meeting on April 19th at 7 PM! More information can be found in the Meeting post below.
Tickets are selling fast for our annual Spring Gala and Auction, May 11th from 6-9 PM. Don’t miss the Early Bird pricing for our second biggest fundraiser of the year, featuring our Live Auction hosted by former Bronx Science parent, CBS’s Lonnie Quinn. We already have some wonderful items to auction, but we are still looking for donations, especially of experiences and events. More details about this adults-only event can be found in the Spring Gala posts below.
May also brings our PA and SLT elections, to be held on May 17th, in a remote-only format. Nominations are still open for all positions until the deadline of April 21st. In particular, the nominating committee seeks candidates for Member at Large and for the School Leadership Team. Be a part of the dynamic teams that support our school and develop our annual goals. See the Election post below for more information. If elected office isn’t your thing, but you’d still like to contribute, please see below for information about the Audit Committee.
New Date! We invite all Bronx Science families, friends, and staff to join us for a Night Out at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, May 25th at 7:05 PM. Come cheer for the Yankees as they play the Baltimore Orioles. Nothing beats baseball and bonding in the Bronx! Thank you to Cliff Stanton for organizing this Bronx Science tradition. Tickets can be purchased here.
Finally, we have two urgent reminders as we close the month of March. First, please fill out the NYC School Survey, due March 31st. This survey was sent home in February but can also be filled out online in your preferred language. It only takes a few minutes. Not only is this information crucial as the SLT builds our goals for the upcoming school year, but participation rates are public. We need to demonstrate how engaged we are as a parent body. Information about parent engagement goes into our rankings both city and nationwide. We also ask you to log into the Virtual State of the District hosted by our Superintendent, Fia Davis, on March 30th. The district and city are paying attention to participation rates by school. Please check out the posts below for links.
Your participation matters to our school, our PA and our kids! We thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you!
Sincerely,
Christine Kattan, Jayesh Patel and Elizabeth Polkovitz
PA Presidents
president@bxsciencepa.org
