BA Tradition

On September 10, 1962, Brookfield Academy opened its doors to 33 students and five faculty members. Since then it has become a tradition to hold the Founders Day assembly every year on September 10th. All students, faculty, parents, and guests assemble at the same location where the original 38 stood and commemorate the founding with a guest speaker and induction of past faculty and staff into the Brookfield Academy Honor Roll of Distinguished Service.



Renowned educational theorist Thomas Sergiovanni talks about the importance of shared values, beliefs, and norms in creating an authentic school community. He believes that knowledge of a school's history, the people, events, and anecdotes that helped shape a school's identity, is an essential component of a healthy and successful school. Through its well-organized archives, written histories of the Academy, and personal stories that have been passed down through the years, Brookfield Academy's rich tradition continues to give the school meaning and quietly contributes to its success. The Founders Day celebration reflects the school's emphasis on mission, tradition, and history.


This year the Academy welcomed as its speaker Miss Cindy Davis. A 1998 graduate of Brookfield Academy, Cindy is currently practicing law with the firm of Foley and Lardner. Cindy has a special and unique connection to Founders Day as it was her grandparents, Walter and Betty Davis, who were among the founding families of the Academy. Indeed, Cindy's father was one of the 33 students who stood at the top of the hill in 1962. As a BA student Cindy herself attended 14 Founders Days assemblies. While her return as guest speaker may have seemed surreal, in her speech Cindy captured the spirit and essence of Brookfield Academy. Here are some excerpts from Cindy's speech:



It feels like not too long ago I was a student standing on the blacktop right where you are all standing. I have many memories of Founders Day, some of which consist of commiserating with fellow students about how the teachers made us trek to the top of this windy hill and stand patiently while we listened to some speaker carry on about how great Brookfield Academy is. Well, you know the saying, what goes around, comes around. I do realize, now that I have the distinct honor of speaking to all of you on Founders Day, that maybe those speakers really did know what they were talking about.



Two years ago, I had the amazing opportunity to serve as the judicial law clerk to Justice David Prosser in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I worked in the majestic State Capitol in Madison and got to listen to the parties’ oral arguments in the grand courtroom. I thought the cases that the Supreme Court would hear would be really substantive and controversial—dealing with constitutional law like freedom of speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. The court did have a lot of cases like those. But, the court also had one case that brought me back to Mrs. Daane’s grammar class in Middle School and those two weeks or so when we studied commas and how commas can change the meaning of a sentence. We learned about restrictive versus non-restrictive clauses, and I still remember Mrs. Daane’s catchy phrase to help us remember when we use a comma and when we don’t. The case that the Justices heard involved a medical malpractice and wrongful death claim. Thousands of dollars were at stake for a family who had just lost a mother and a wife as a result of a doctor’s mistake. Instead of arguing about lofty principles and ideals, the case came down to a single sentence found in the Wisconsin Statutes drafted by the Legislature. The Legislature ended up using a comma followed by the word “which” and for those of you grammar buffs out there, it thus created a non-restrictive clause. And the question that the court had to decide was whether the Legislature really meant to use a comma. Now, I won’t bore you with all the details of the case. The point I want to make is that a case made it all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because a law was not written as clearly as it should have been. Commas were used when they allegedly should not have been. And all the while I was thinking, wow, that two week session on commas in Middle School class really did matter.


Brookfield Academy is a constant reminder to me that the conventional route isn’t always the best route—that you don’t always have to follow the crowd or accept the status quo. By its very example, Brookfield Academy has taught me to check the assumptions when I don’t agree with the conclusions, and it has provided me the wherewithal when presented with “Option A” or “Option B” to say with quiet confidence, “Thanks, but no thanks, I’m going with ‘Option C’.” And finally, Brookfield Academy has prepared me for the hard work and responsibility that go along with making Option C happen.



As we embark on this next stage of BA’s history with a brand new high school and state-of-the -art athletic facilities, we cannot and should not become complacent, take this success for granted or forget what makes this school so special. As my dad said in his Founders Day speech in 1989, “While the Academy has seen many changes in its life since the first opening day, the most important things are unchanged and are just as alive today as they were 27 years ago.” And so I say to you today: While the Academy is experiencing many new and exciting changes, the most important things are unchanged and will continue to be just as alive today and tomorrow as they were 46 years ago, so as long as we continue to cherish and hold tight to those things that make Brookfield Academy so special to us. Too often we forget what we have or how much something means to us until it’s gone or jeopardized. Let’s not make that mistake here. Nor let us forget all the hard work that has been put into this school and continues to be put into this school ever since the Founders paved the way for us and chose Option C way back in 1962. From the outside looking in, it looks pretty easy. But, we all know it isn’t. I know that my grandfather and the rest of the Founders would be very proud of the Brookfield Academy today. So, let’s be proud of ourselves too and show that pride to others.

And finally, as you begin another school year, I would like to leave you with a quote from a book that has provided me with inspiration and has challenged me to reach for the stars and believe that this life can be whatever it is that I want it to be. It is a quote by Ayn Rand, from her famous book, Atlas Shrugged:

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.”