I Am Free!

"Liberty" is more than the name of a campus building for Elfie and Ned Gallun, long-time supporters of Brookfield Academy. It is a tangible concept that makes even the air smell sweetly different.

As a teenager in 1951, Elfie Gallun made an incredible and courageous journey from communist East Germany to the free West. To this day, she and her husband, Ned, do not take personal or political liberty for granted.

Ned and Elfie have embraced Brookfield Academy for its philosophical focus on the precious, priceless, and perishable nature of freedom. Their son, Martin, graduated from BA in 1988, and Ned served on the Board of Directors from 1986-1988. Over the years, the Galluns have continued to generously support the school. To recognize their exceptional commitment to the ideals of Brookfield Academy, an informative display honoring Elfie Gallun's escape to freedom has been installed in the Liberty Hall foyer.

This educational exhibit uses pictures and narrative to tell the story of Elfie's remarkable journey during World War II and the years following from Danzig, Poland to the United States of America, where she was awestruck by her first sight of the Statue of Liberty.

Read Elfie Gallun's full story in the upcoming issue of Knights Notes.

A Letter Home

Dear BA Community,

I am writing this “letter home” to give a brief update on life post-BA. I am in my fourth year at the University of Chicago, majoring in economics and international studies. Usually, students with these majors go on to do graduate work or pursue a career in finance. I have been thinking about doing a mixture of the two—possibly in a development context.

In a lot of ways, I think that the path my college career has taken was the next step in a process that started back at BA. After all, spending a week studying in the library is normal for anyone who ever took AP Bio. My BA economics courses still rank among the most enjoyable and thought-provoking I have ever had, even in a university department known for its Nobel prize winners. I believe BA trained me well and I am grateful to all my teachers there who worked so hard to do so.

During the past four years, I have had the chance to observe students from a large variety of educational backgrounds and I am convinced that the people who have the most success are the ones whose education will allow them to pursue whatever field they like. This is to say that, upon arrival at University, the students who are most prepared by their high schools have the greatest advantage with regard to their course of study.

While my own career at the U of C has not been without challenges, I think that the success I’ve had is due to the preparation I received at BA, and I am very grateful for that.

All the best,

Robert Reavis ’06

The Future Is Bright

On Jan. 31, the new Upper School home, Patriots Hall, was officially dedicated with much fanfare and celebration.

As has been the case since Patriots Hall opened on Jan. 4, we all felt joy and pride in the accomplishment of so many "dreamers" who made the dream a reality. Today, our Upper School is housed in a magnificent building that permits us to deliver an education second to none.

We have the classroom and lab space to provide a high quality college prep experience; we have extensive art and computer graphic art rooms; we have a spacious and beautiful library with room for quiet study; we have a state-of-the-art fitness and weight room and field house providing complete support for all our athletic programs; we have a very large music and drama room for practice and future performance; we have an inviting and spacious cafeteria/student commons area for relaxation and conversation. In short, we have a wonderful, secure home for Upper School programs.

But the dedication, and the mission of the Upper School, is much more than the steel and bricks and mortar of a new facility. The building houses the people who deliver a special program with passion and enthusiasm. Our programs intend to take all students and guide, teach, and direct them to achieve personal excellence and prepare them to make a positive change in our world.

Our graduates are doing that now, and many have come back to tell us about what they are accomplishing. This is a special time for the Upper School and for Brookfield Academy as a whole and the future remains very bright for all of us fortunate enough to be part of this enterprise.

Dan Davis, Head of Upper School