Philosophy, Diversity, Community Service
Philosophy
Creating a caring, challenging community—this goal guides us at Bullis School. We recognize that each aspect of a student’s experience is an opportunity for growth, and we require every student to explore a range of interests in academics, the arts and athletics. We believe that each student’s potential must be developed thoughtfully through stimulating, challenging experiences. As students take increasing individual and collective responsibility for their development, appropriate structure and high expectations establish a strong foundation and useful framework for learning and creative expression. Within this framework, we encourage each student to regularly question assumptions, take risks, learn from mistakes and participate in scholarly inquiry.
At Bullis, we value diversity and embrace its many dimensions. We regard interactions among people of various backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints as essential to developing the respect, empathy and compassion that lie at the heart of our school. Integrity, accountability and trust are central to the relationships we develop at Bullis and to our interactions with those outside of the school community. Working together with families, we teach students that the well-being of the Bullis community is a shared responsibility and that service to others enables us all to explore our humanity and become active and responsible world citizens.Diversity
Bullis is a learning community where equity and appreciation of diversity are core values. Students and families, faculty and staff, and the Board of Trustees will all reflect and respect this diversity. Diversity brings encounters that are active and challenging—that move us from mere tolerance to genuine acceptance and understanding of others. In and out of the classroom, students and adults are encouraged to see the world through different lenses, to become better learners, more culturally versatile, ready to participate as responsible citizens and to provide leadership in an increasingly multicultural world.
Diversity is central to the identity and character of Bullis School. It has many dimensions, including, but not limited to, the following (listed in alphabetical order):
- Diverse gifts and talents
- Gender
- Geography
- Learning style
- Physical challenges
- Politics
- Race and ethnicity
- Religion
- Sexual orientation
- Socioeconomic background
As we plan for the future of our school, among our highest aspirations and goals is to develop, to welcome, to include and to embrace the wide-ranging diversity of the Bullis School community.
Community Service
Embedded in the Bullis School philosophy is the notion that through community service, students discover what matters most to them as individuals. They learn that the well-being of their local community is a shared responsibility which in turn enables them to explore their humanity and become active and responsible world citizens. Community service helps students learn to be leaders, to empathize and to apply moral principles to real-life situations.
The tradition of community service at Bullis involves students and faculty in all divisions every year. Lower School students engage in activities ranging from creating books-on-tape to share with beginning readers in underresourced schools to visiting with elderly residents and performing music for them, or creating gifts for the patients at the Children’s Inn at NIH. Middle School students have enjoyed helping to sort donations at a clothing center, working with children in a Head Start program, visiting retirement homes, preparing food for a homeless shelter and many more activities. Upper School students participate in a wide variety of service projects, including working in soup kitchens, baking holiday pies in our school kitchen, assembling Thanksgiving baskets for families in need, hosting elderly guests at on-campus musical performances, restoring parks in inner-city neighborhoods and raising funds for charity by organizing car washes and bake sales. Seniors participate in individually designed eight-day community service projects at the conclusion of the senior year. The faculty not only provide supervision for many community service activities, but also each year they engage collectively in a half-day of community service with four different organizations one week prior to the opening day of school.